Argentina Creditors Can’t Seize Assets of Central Bank, Court Rules
Source: Wall Street Journal
Argentina Creditors Can’t Seize Assets of Central Bank, Court Rules
Decision reverses earlier ruling that would have opened nation’s reserves to hedge funds
By
Julie Wernau
Aug. 31, 2015 12:56 p.m. ET
Creditors owed billions by Argentina can’t seize the assets of its central bank, a U.S. court ruled Monday.
The decision marks a key reversal of a district-court ruling that would have opened the sovereign nation’s reserves to hedge funds who sought to declare Banco Central de la Republica Argentina (BCRA) an “alter ego” of the South American nation.
Creditors who hold $2.4 billion in judgments against the nation stemming from a 2001 default on more than $80 billion in debt have repeatedly failed to find a way to collect. Argentina has repeatedly referred to the hedge funds as “vultures.”
. . .
A three-member panel of judges at the 2nd Circuit said U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa erred in ruling that Argentina’s central bank had waived its sovereign immunity.
Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/argentina-creditors-cant-seize-assets-of-central-bank-court-rules-1441040165
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The proof is in the pudding: Vulture funds are Cayman Islands-based laundromats that handle billions in drug (and possibly terrorist) money without paying a cent in U.S. taxes. Obviously paying off a Nixon-appointed judge wouldn't be a problem either.
Then consider Greasa himself: that old buzzard has bent himself backward to facilitate every vulture fund extortion tactic, even rewriting Champerty laws that cover bondholder good faith. That is, you can't buy bonds with the bad faith intent of suing for more later - except apparently in the case of foreign bonds, which is why the sovereign bond market is stampeding to London as we speak (thousands of Wall Street jobs; trillions of dollars). He also bought a million-dollar ranch in Montana. 
Greasa does this knowing that there's no way they can collect 1600% when all other bondholders had to swap for 30 cents on the dollar a decade ago - and the vulture funds weren't even "creditors" (as they're often called in the media); they bought their bonds from resellers a few years ago.
What often gets lost in these stories is that Argentina's legitimate bondholders have been paid religiously for 10 years and have actually had the value of their bonds more than double. When you include interest payments, in fact, all bondholders who swapped in 2005 and have held their Argentine bonds since then, have already recouped their initial investment and then some.
If Paul Singer wants 1600%, he should try hitting Uncle Sam up for more TARP money. They printed $12 billion out of thin air for the man from thr Caymans once, I'm sure they don't mind doing it again.
For more on the Argentine case, and how he already fleeced Uncle Sam: http://www.gregpalast.com/how-barack-obama-could-end-the-argentina-debt-crisis/
