The United States asked that a sentence against YPF not be paid with company shares

Within a deadline, the Department of Justice of USA was presented this Wednesday at the Loretta Preska Courthouse who leads the case for expropriation of YPF in his New York court and, by means of a declaration of interest, requested that sentences are not paid with oil company shares a claim that a vulture fund had raised last March.

The intervention of Joe Biden’s administration – which coincidentally occurred on the day it was confirmed that Donald Trump will succeed him – had been planned since September.

It is before two sentences, one favorable to fondo buitre Bainbridge linked to the plot and another, of beneficiaries of the ruling by the expropriation of YPF in 2012, during the government of Cristina Kirchner and the economic management of Axel Kicillof. Due to this ruling, the state company faces a first-instance sentence to pay 16.1 billion dollars.

The opinion of the Biden administration – at the request of the court’s prosecutors – recommended refuse payment in shares of sentences for considering it violation of sovereignty and mark a precedent that could become a boomerang for the United Statesin cases involving companies from that country, according to analysis by specialists who follow the judicial process.

“The United States presents this Statement of Interest to reiterate its long-standing position that sovereign foreign properties located abroad are not subject to enforcement in US courts“, wrote the emissaries of the Department of Justice in the presentation, an extract of which was published on social networks. Sebastian Marillawyer and CEO of Latin Advisors, an Argentine who has been closely following the judicial brawls between the Argentine state and vulture funds in United States courts for some time.

The text, signed by Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, lists reasons and suggests to Judge Preska: “The injunction and order requested by the plaintiffs that They demand that Argentina hand over its sovereign property located in its own territory would violate well-established immunity laws sovereignty and should not be granted by the Court.

The presentation is not binding but yes, a weighty parameter that Justice will take into account. “This is not related to Alter Ego, nor the appeal, nor the $16.1 billion ruling. It is part of the execution of both sentences,” Maril explains from her networks and Clarion.

Lawyer Sebastián Soler published the cover of a ten-page presentation on his X account. There the recommendation is detailed against the other beneficiaries who tried to collect in YPF shares: the vulture fund Eton Park Capital and Petersen Energy Investorthe company of the familia Eskenazi which was the alleged majority shareholder of the oil company at the time of its expropriation.

Due to nationalization, meanwhile, there is also a claim for damages to those partners of the Spanish company. Repsolshareholder of the private YPF. That collection action passed into the hands of the vulture as well. fondo Burford.

Both actors, in parallel, demanded to collect their favorable sentences with 51 percent of the shares that the Argentine State has from YPF.

The ruling for the expropriation of YPF is the highest against a state in history. On October 26, 2023, Argentina requested to suspend the multi-million-dollar execution of the pending final sentence and appeal it without bail or impose a provisional sentence. They were times of Alberto Fernández and Sergio Massa.

But Preska was surprised by the extension request led by the request for 30 days to familiarize himself with the case. “If this trial is so critical, one would think that the new Government would lend immediate attention“, ruled the judge, in reference to the arrival of Javier Milei’s management.

A turn of gold outside the Central Bankat the request of the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo and in search of a bank REPO loan, was another objective of the vulture funds to try to collect unexecuted sentences.

With a discovery action, the asset search processes that specialized law firms use in court to enforce debts, the Bainbridge fund made an attempt before the movement of BCRA bullion.

Based in the Bahamas, the fund that now had a setback in New York tried to claim the same ruling in that way. Seeks to collect 95.8 million dollars that come from the unpaid Argentine debt bonds that did not enter the debt exchanges after the default in 2001. That claim of savers had a favorable ruling in 2016 and the holdout Bainbrigde acquired the debt that, while trying to execute it with seizures, accumulates interest.