NEW YORK (AP) — An American judge has frozen all property held in the U.S. by Argentina’s central bank, saying some or maybe all of that money rightfully belongs to corporations that are owed billions of dollars by that country’s government.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa signed the order Monday in New York. The court made the order public Wednesday.
The amount of money involved still isn’t clear because lawyers in the case have yet to tally how much money the bank has deposited in the U.S., but the court has authorized the creditors to attach as much as $3.1 billion in Argentina’s assets.
Judge Griesa issued the order at the request of two investment firms, EM Ltd. and NML Capital Ltd., which were among the creditors owed billions of dollars from Argentina’s default on $95 billion in bonds in 2001.