The U.S. judge in Argentina's long-running debt battle with hedge funds threatened a contempt-of-court order on Friday if the nation did not stop issuing false statements about having made a required debt payment on restructured sovereign bonds.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan railed at Argentina's lawyers from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton following the publication of another so-called legal notice insisting the government has met its payment requirements and was therefore not in default.
Griesa said these notices were "regularly" and "systematically" omitting the vital obligations of the Republic.
Holding a newspaper copy of the notice, which appeared Thursday, Griesa said if the false statements didn't stop, a contempt of court order will become necessary.
Griesa said he was not going to go further than a warning for now, but that may change. He reiterated that the two sides must continue negotiating with the aide of mediator Daniel Pollack.
"We will continue to work tirelessly to defend the rights of Argentina," Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said on public television in Argentina, adding that at the hearing in New York on Friday "Judge Griesa did not resolve anything."
Jonathan Blackman, Argentina's lead lawyer, told Griesa his firm Cleary Gottlieb did not aid in preparing the government's latest legal notices. He also complained of being attacked and lampooned by the lobby group American Task Force Argentina, which is partly funded by holdout investors.
Argentina missed a coupon payment after a grace period ended on July 30, pushing it into default on restructured debt from a previous default in 2002 on roughly $100 billion U.S. in sovereign bonds.
The government settled with nearly 93% of its bondholders in two restructurings but two deep-pocketed distressed debt investors held out and did not participate in the exchanges in 2005 and 2010. They are by far not the only holdouts, but have been the most prominent in their fight for full repayment on debt they bought at pennies on the dollar in a case that essentially comes down to a contract dispute.
Griesa, in 2012, awarded these holdout investors led by NML Capital Ltd, an affiliate of the $24.8-billion U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, and Aurelius Capital Management, who won a $1.33-billion U.S. judgment.
Argentina insists it is not in default because it deposited a $539-million U.S. coupon payment on exchanged bonds before a June 30 deadline. Griesa has called the deposit with trustee Bank of New York Mellon illegal and reiterated on Friday that, "there has been no payment."
Payments to exchange bondholders have not been made because of Greisa's order, which stipulated the nation must concurrently pay the holdouts their award plus accrued interest.
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