U.S. court rejects creditors' bid for Argentine funds held by BNY Mellon

[Judi Lynn]

Mon Oct 5, 2015 10:57am EDT

U.S. court rejects creditors' bid for Argentine funds held by BNY Mellon

NEW YORK | By Joseph Ax


A U.S. appeals court on Monday refused to force Bank of New York Mellon Corp to turn over to holders of defaulted Argentine bonds any of the $539 million the country deposited in 2014 to pay creditors who participated in its past restructurings. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld an October 2014 ruling from U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa, agreeing that the plaintiffs were not entitled to possess the funds and did not have rights to the money superior to that of BNY Mellon.

"At most, then, the (Argentine) Republic’s transfer was a preference among creditors," a three-judge panel wrote. "But under New York law, preferring one creditor over another is neither actually nor constructively fraudulent."

Anthony Costantini, a lawyer for the majority of the bondholders seeking payment, said the court failed to take into account additional legal arguments he made in a letter filed last week.

"We will make a motion for rehearing," he said. A lawyer for Argentina, Carmine Boccuzzi, said in an email, "The Court of Appeals correctly recognized that these are exchange bondholder funds to which holdouts have no claim."

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/05/us-argentina-debt-court-idUSKCN0RZ1K120151005?rpc=401

[forest444]

1. And by "creditors," Reichters means vulture funds.

That money's there for Argentina's real creditors, the ones who've been collecting religiously for 10 years - not Johnny-come-lately extortionists who bought the bonds in bad faith. It would be like having a loan shark go to your mortgage bank to claim your payment.

If a drug money laundry (and 12 billion-dollar TARP baby) buys government bonds from a black market reseller, 7 years after they were issued, and with the intent of suing for a 1600% payout later on, they're "creditors" in the same way John Gotti was a "businessman."

[Judi Lynn]

2. What a shame the US corporate media have been able to blur the lines so well, isn't it? n/t