The order was signed by the magistrate of the Second Southern District Court of New York, where Argentina is already facing a sentence for which it must pay US$16.1 billion from dollars to the funds Burford Capital and Eton Park, who bought the rights to litigate against the expropriation of shares that belonged to the Petersen group, the family Eskenazi.
The measure initially included the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, and his predecessor in office, Sergio Massa, as well as the presidential advisor Santiago Caputo and the former head of Customs, William Michel. However, At the request of the Argentine lawyers, the judge postponed the decision on the names until a new exchange of letters takes place.
The plaintiffs, seeing that it is highly unlikely that the National State can pay the principal and interest (which has already accumulated almost US$900 million), they seek to include in the case again YPF -originally taken- and seize your assets.
The argument of Burford the thing is YPF is the “alter ego” of the national Stateand that instead of operating strictly as indicated by its corporate form – a private Limited Company (SA) – it operates based on the political objectives of the government in power.
Expropriation of YPF: Loretta Preska asked for emails and WhatsApps of Luis Caputo, Santiago Caputo and Sergio Massa
In response to the request for funds, the judge Preska He requested communications from a group of officials and former officials, among whom were initially the head of the Treasury and the current presidential advisor, one of Milei’s most trusted people, who recently described him as a member of the “Iron Triangle”, an entourage made up of Karina Milei, the advisor and the President himself.
The judge also demanded that the Argentine government incorporate Massa’s former vice minister into the measure, Gabriel Rubinstein, and the former Secretary of Industry, Jose Ignacio de Mendigurenin an unprecedented event.
According to information disclosed in his X account by the owner of Latam Advisors, Sebastian Maril, The New York judge postponed the requests for the former chief of staff and current senator, Eduardo “Wado” De Pedrothe former general secretary of the Presidency of Alberto Fernández, Julio Vitobello, and the economist and former head of the Ministry of Commerce, Matias Tombolini.
YPF case: Burford Capital’s strategy to take on Argentine assets
According to information published by the Financial Times, the strategy of the English fund Burford is to target the Argentine State with the aim of moving forward with the seizure of its assets. There they would come into the crosshairs the state-owned company Aerolíneas, the Central Bank and the Banco Nación.
The lawyers of Burford, According to international media, Argentine companies are full of political appointments of unqualified personnel. This factor would make the entities state property and “indistinguishable from him.” In various presentations made in the courts, Argentine lawyers denied that they were organizations with “alter ego” character and that the United States Justice already He described them as “operationally separate from the State.”
At the beginning of the year, the English fund company asked the judge Preska that authorize the transfer in its favor of 51% of the shares of YPF owned by the Argentine State since it expropriated the company in 2012. The request was based at that time on the non-compliance with the ruling that obliges the country to pay US$16.1 billion for the expropriation.
Burford currently holds the litigation rights since it purchased the power from Petersen, a minority shareholder in YPF, for 61% of its holdings. According to the fund in a statement, it later sold about half of it to third-party investors. Therefore, Petersen would retain the remainder and would also be a beneficiary of the judgment. In the case of Eton ParkBurford also has the right to litigation.
Argentina will have until December 14 of this year to pay the US$16 billion. If this does not happen, the English fund will be able to decide how to collect the debt. If the parties do not reach an agreement, the judge will be the one to decide.
Source: Ambito
