US judge's name is a household word in Argentina
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A federal judge who rarely makes headlines in the United States is a household name in Argentina, and not in a good way.
The judge is Thomas Griesa of Manhattan, who supported the claims of “vulture” hedge funds that purchased Argentina’s bonds for pennies on the dollar when the country defaulted on its debt in 2001, NPR reports.
Griesa is pictured with a vulture on his back on posters lining Argentine streets, news articles feature him, and Argentine politicians criticize him. NPR spoke with people on the street in Buenos Aires, who were easily able to identify Griesa.
Griesa ruled against Argentina two years ago, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court, the New York Times reported last month. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept the case in June.
Griesa had ruled the country must pay its bonds in full, along with back interest, to holdout investors who refused to exchange them for new bonds in debt restructurings. In an attempt to enforce his ruling, Griesa has ordered banks to refrain from helping Argentina dodge the ruling.
The Times article says cities can go bankrupt and avoid debt, but there is no such system for countries. The International Monetary Fund had proposed a debt restructuring mechanism for countries, but the United States has opposed the measure.
