Business

Singer’s Argentine money trail leads to Madison Avenue

He’s ba-aack!

Billionaire Paul Singer’s treasure hunt for Argentine assets will lead to a slew of fresh subpoenas this week, including one to a company located on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue, The Post has learned.

Singer’s hedge fund Elliott Management, which has been in hot pursuit of assets to satisfy $1.5 billion in judgments tied to defaulted Argentina bonds, won a big victory last week when a federal judge in Nevada authorized him to go after 123 Nevada-based companies tied to Argentine businessman Lazaro Baez.

The probe into Baez put Elliott hot on the trail of another Argentine businessman — Cristobal Lopez — the wealthy and well-connected pal of the late Argentina President Nestor Kirchner, sources close to the matter tell The Post.

Nestor’s widow, Cristina, succeeded him as president.

Now Singer intends to use the powers granted by the Nevada court last week to issue subpoenas to at least two Nevada companies tied to Lopez, a source familiar with Singer’s thinking said. He is seeking information that could let him seize state assets.

One of those companies, Centenary International, is a publicly traded shell company with no business activity owned by Lopez.

Centenary is an “inactive development stage company” whose only hope is a merger with, or an acquisition of, an existing operating entity, it said in a recent regulatory filing.

Despite having no operations and reporting a net loss of close to $1 million last year, Centenary recently signed a 10-year Madison Avenue lease for a 4,000 square feet of office space near the Museum of Modern Art at a cost of $34,333 a month.

This and other potential red flags — Centenary also holds oil and gas assets from Argentina — have Singer chomping at the bit for more information .

Singer famously convinced a Ghana court in 2012 to seize an Argentine naval vessel docked in the country’s port in an attempt to seize some of the $1.5 billion in payments a US court has ruled he is entitled to.

Singer is owed the money from defaulted Argentine bonds — although the country’s leaders have sworn never to pay Singer a dime.

Lopez owns a lot of Argentine media outlets, including news cable channel C5N and Radio 10. He also invested in a recently remodeled casino in Dania Beach, Fla.

Lopez couldn’t be reached for comment. A call to Centenary International, which lists an Argentina number, wasn’t picked up.

Lopez, who hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing, could challenge the subpoenas by arguing that they are beyond the court’s authorization.

Singer is expected to argue that Lopez was tied to the Baez shell company network in Nevada by a prosecutor in Argentina last year, and therefore falls within the court order.

Several NY banks will also receive fresh subpoenas as soon as this week based on the recent Supreme Court ruling in the controversial case. The banks on the list include Citibank, Standard Charter and HSBC, the source said.