William Kirtley Interviewed By BBC Mundo Concerning Argentina Default.
William Kirtley of Dugué & Kirtley AARPI has been interviewed by BBC Mundo with respect to whether the United States could be in violation of international law with respect to the recent rulings of New York district court judge Thomas Griesa, which threaten to push Argentina into default for the second time in 13 years.
The United States has been accused of abusing Argentina’s national sovereignty by its judiciary’s finding in favor of American hedge funds largely decried as “vultures.” These hedge funds, such as Paul Singer’s Elliott Associates, purchased the debt of Argentina, refused to take part in the restructuring of this debt, and have since refused anything but full repayment of this debt. While Argentina has the ability to pay the 93% of debt holders who agreed to the debt’s restructuring, the U.S. judiciary has ruled that they cannot be paid until “holdouts” such as Elliott Associates are paid.
Paul Singer is a controversial figure, who has also been implicated in similar schemes with respect to the debt of Peru and Congo-Brazzaville, from which his businesses have managed to force concessions. President Obama himself previously noted Mr. Singer’s “extortion,” after Mr. Singer took control of Delphi Automative and refused to provide auto parts to General Motors and Chrysler until he was paid by the U.S. Treasury. (The U.S. Treasury ultimately backed down and paid him USD 12.9 billion.)
On 7 August, Argentina filed a case with the International Court of Justice against the United States concerning the U.S. judiciary’s potential violations of international law. The United States has not indicated whether or not it will participate in the International Court of Justice case against it. The International Court of Justice does not possess automatic jurisdictional power over the United States, Russia, China and other leading international actors.
See https://bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2014/08/140808_argentina_default_eeuu_obama_juicio_az.shtml