Argentina won’t negotiate with Burford Capital, the firm leading efforts to collect a US$16-billion judgment against the South American nation, a spokesman for President Javier Milei told reporters Friday.
The spokesman, Manuel Adorni, also denied that the government had held any secret talks. “Argentina will not negotiate with the plaintiffs and categorically denies any malicious discussion of parallel meetings or secret agreements,” he said.
Adorni’s remarks come a few weeks after US District Judge Loretta Preska in New York ordered Argentina to hand over its 51 percent stake in oil company YPF SA to partially satisfy the judgment. Preska is also the judge who in 2023 awarded US$16 billion to YPF shareholders expropriated by the Argentine government in 2012.
Milei’s administration is appealing both the original judgement and Preska’s June 30 handover order. Many legal experts have said the more recent order is likely to put pressure on Argentina to reach a settlement.
Burford declined to comment on Friday. Its shares have surged in the last few weeks on such expectations. The litigation funding firm’s share price was largely unchanged around noon on Friday.
The government’s registrar of visitors recently disclosed that two Burford negotiators met with Milei’s cabinet chief back in October, but the government said talks never advanced.
Adorni’s comments come a day after the Trump administration submitted a court filing supporting Argentina in the federal appeals court in New York. The US Justice Department said that allowing the YPF handover order to take effect would violate legal protections of sovereign immunity.
Argentina on Thursday ordered a restructuring of the Treasury prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case on its behalf. The decision comes after local media reports on suspected information leaks in the trial for YPF. Adorni denied Friday that the restructuring had anything to do with the purported leaks.
by Patrick Gillespie, Manuela Tobias & Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg
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