Argentina is developing a plan to sidestep a federal court ruling and not pay Paul Singer’s Elliott Management as much as $1.3 billion, lawyers for the billionaire hedge-fund mogul said in a court filing.
Leaders of the South American country have fought paying Elliott alongside the holders of its restructured bonds that it is expected to pay $3.3 billion next month.
A Manhattan federal court ruled that if one is paid, both have to be paid — and any move by Argentina to do otherwise would be in defiance of Judge Thomas Griesa.
Elliott cited thinly sourced Argentine press reports that officials were looking at paying the bonds in Argentina.
The Post could not corroborate the charge.
Separately, analysts at JPMorgan and Barclays have laid out a number of scenarios by which the bondholders that agreed to debt swaps could be paid by alternative means.
Other sources told The Post that Argentina might route the payments to other South American countries unfriendly to the US, such as Ecuador or Venezuela.
However they get their money, investors in the restructured bonds aren’t likely to complain, as the alternative might be default due to Argentina’s refusal to pay Elliott.
“It’s my money,” said Diego Ferro of Greylock Capital Management, which owns restructured bonds. “I will take it wherever it is.”
Because of the apparent illegality of rerouting the payments, any such move by Argentina would probably not happen quickly. Ferro said that’s why Elliott is asking Griesa to hurry up and force the extra payout at the same time the December bond payments are due.