Billionaire hedge-fund mogul Paul Singer mysteriously canceled a hastily requested hearing before a federal judge yesterday.
Singer’s Elliott Management requested the hearing over its epic legal battle with Argentina just 24 hours earlier — but pulled out yesterday without giving a reason, sources told The Post.
Elliott requested the hearing with trial judge Thomas Griesa after recent statements made by Argentina President Cristina Kirchner about measures her government would take to side-step a US court ruling that it would have to pay Elliott and other holdout bondholders $1.4 billion whenever they paid holders of restructured bonds.
Elliott was expected to ask Griesa to force Argentina to fork over the money as soon as next month because it feared Argentina was preparing to side-step the appeals court order.
The Post reported yesterday that Elliott was considering such a move.
An Elliott spokesman said he knew nothing about the hearing. Lawyers for Argentina declined to comment.
Last Friday, the appeals court upheld a Griesa decision that Argentina must pay Elliott and other investors — who bought Argentine debt at a discount — in full and with interest.
These investors refused to go along with the 93 percent of bondholders who agreed to take a haircut and exchange their debt for new bonds.
While agreeing that Elliott should be paid, the appeals court stayed the order pending the country’s full appeal.
Kirchner has long said she will never pay the Elliott group, calling them “vultures.”
On Sunday, she said Argentina might swap the exchanged bonds into local bonds, avoiding the US court ruling. Government officials said it would not take such action until all its appeals were exhausted.
Given Kirchner’s continued recalcitrance, last fall Elliott asked Griesa to force Argentina to put the $1.4 billion in escrow, and he agreed. But the appeals court overruled him, reinstating the stay.