Opinion
For The Herald
NML Capital has taken the audacious step of asking a US court to restrict an individual’s freedom because he may have information about assets that may be owed to them, at some indistinct point in the future.
Federal court filings reveal that the billionaire-owned hedge fund wants to force César Guido Forcieri, a former World Bank director, to turn over his passport and thereby stop him from leaving the US, as he plans to return home on November 8.
While New York Judge Thomas Griesa has awarded the hedge fund US$1.7 billion in its case against Argentina over payment on its bonds, this new attempt to use the justice system as a private police force brings the tone of the proceedings to a new low. NML is currently searching for any Argentine-owned assets that it can grab in order to fulfill the judgment; like in 2012, when it had the frigate Libertad impounded in Ghana.
The biggest and most worrying difference is that it currently has no rights to assets that Forcieri could tell them about.
Forcieri has been indicted in the same case as Argentina’s Vice-President Amado Boudou, involving a government contract to print Argentine currency.
NML’s argument is that, if the men are found guilty and the country seizes their assets, then the fund could properly seek those assets to fulfill the award from Judge Griesa. However, this glosses over the fact that those assets are not government-owned properly right now, when it is asking to have Forcieri detained. To add to the incredulity, this comes after he willingly met with the fund’s representatives last week and answered their questions for hours.
Is the request by the hedge fund even legal? NML asking the courts to detain an individual who has been convicted of no crime would not only degrade the already temperamental relations between the two countries, but could violate the US Constitution and international law. Other than the ability to vote and run for public office, many rights under the US constitution are guaranteed to all people in the country, including the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Furthermore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the US is a part, states that ‘no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest [or] detention.’
Considering NML can only speculate on the possibility of Forcieri actually being convicted, forcing him to turn over his passport and submit to a deposition appears completely unreasonable and arbitrary at this time. The Argentine government has consistently claimed bias on the part of the US courts towards the hedge fund, and restricting an individual’s free movement in relation to an entirely civil lawsuit would undoubtedly be framed as such. Of course, if NML’s request is granted, it would also have very troubling implications about the ability of corporations to use the U.S. legal system against ’natural’ people.
This latest action by the hedge fund appears to be premature, at best, and dangerously frivolous, at worst.
Thomas G. Spanos is a lawyer at the Knull law firm in Buenos Aires
For The Herald
NML Capital has taken the audacious step of asking a US court to restrict an individual’s freedom because he may have information about assets that may be owed to them, at some indistinct point in the future.
Federal court filings reveal that the billionaire-owned hedge fund wants to force César Guido Forcieri, a former World Bank director, to turn over his passport and thereby stop him from leaving the US, as he plans to return home on November 8.
While New York Judge Thomas Griesa has awarded the hedge fund US$1.7 billion in its case against Argentina over payment on its bonds, this new attempt to use the justice system as a private police force brings the tone of the proceedings to a new low. NML is currently searching for any Argentine-owned assets that it can grab in order to fulfill the judgment; like in 2012, when it had the frigate Libertad impounded in Ghana.
The biggest and most worrying difference is that it currently has no rights to assets that Forcieri could tell them about.
Forcieri has been indicted in the same case as Argentina’s Vice-President Amado Boudou, involving a government contract to print Argentine currency.
NML’s argument is that, if the men are found guilty and the country seizes their assets, then the fund could properly seek those assets to fulfill the award from Judge Griesa. However, this glosses over the fact that those assets are not government-owned properly right now, when it is asking to have Forcieri detained. To add to the incredulity, this comes after he willingly met with the fund’s representatives last week and answered their questions for hours.
Is the request by the hedge fund even legal? NML asking the courts to detain an individual who has been convicted of no crime would not only degrade the already temperamental relations between the two countries, but could violate the US Constitution and international law. Other than the ability to vote and run for public office, many rights under the US constitution are guaranteed to all people in the country, including the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Furthermore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the US is a part, states that ‘no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest [or] detention.’
Considering NML can only speculate on the possibility of Forcieri actually being convicted, forcing him to turn over his passport and submit to a deposition appears completely unreasonable and arbitrary at this time. The Argentine government has consistently claimed bias on the part of the US courts towards the hedge fund, and restricting an individual’s free movement in relation to an entirely civil lawsuit would undoubtedly be framed as such. Of course, if NML’s request is granted, it would also have very troubling implications about the ability of corporations to use the U.S. legal system against ’natural’ people.
This latest action by the hedge fund appears to be premature, at best, and dangerously frivolous, at worst.
Thomas G. Spanos is a lawyer at the Knull law firm in Buenos Aires
