US court overturns $16.1 billion judgment against Argentina over oil firm seizure
A US appeals court on Friday overturned a $16.1 billion judgment against Argentina for nationalizing the oil company YPF in 2012.
The ruling was a big victory for President Javier Milei as he tries to boost Argentina's troubled economy.
"We won the YPF trial," Milei wrote in capital letters on the social media platform X, calling the 2-1 ruling by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York the "best possible outcome."
The court struck down a 2023 ruling from Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that ordered Argentina to pay $16.1 billion to minority shareholder companies she said were harmed by the nationalization of YPF.
The appeals court said Friday that breach of contract claims made by these companies were not recognizable under Argentine law.
At: https://www.nbcrightnow.com/national/us-court-overturns-16-1-bn-judgment-against-argentina-over-oil-firm-seizure/article_23824e59-e913-53bb-9588-a939890d7c5f.html
The headquarters of energy firm YPF - Argentina's largest company of any size - looms over Buenos Aires' upscale Puerto Madero ward.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that Federalist Society Judge Loretta Preska's 2023 ruling awarding Burford Capital - a litigation vulture fund domiciled in money-laundering hub Guernsey - over $16 billion for a 2012 renationalization in which they took no part, violates Argentine law.
YPF has, since 2012, spearheaded the development of the Vaca Muerta unconventional oil and gas field - which now provided over 60% of Argentina's oil and gas needs.
Its stock price has risen over 13-fold since its July 2022 low.
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Kast's family - who first became famous when José's older brother briefly led Chile's Central Bank during the Pinochet-era 1982-83 collapse - had long denied any Nazi ties.
Until ze Papieren were found in Germany (José's father, Michael, had indeed been a Wehrmacht officer and Nazi Party underling).
Chile, until last year, also had the "distinction" of being the only country in the world whose richest man was also a known Nazi: the late Horst Paulmann (1935-2025), founder and longtime CEO of South America's largest retail chain, Cencosud.
Paulmann had been an SS officer in the 1940s - and, some believe, received a large cash infusion in the 1970s from the Odessa Network (a ring of SS fugitives believed to have handled billions in offshored Nazi investments - much like Prescott Bush did as early as 1927). Paulmann had likewise denied any Nazi links.
As far as Chile's economy - like most of Latin America's, its growth has slowed considerably since the region's 2002-13 boom: It was 2.8% in '24 and 2.5% last year (it had averaged 4.6% in 2002-13 - and just 1.8% in 2013-23).
Exports to the U.S. actually jumped by 15% last year - so they seem to have dodged the Trump chaos, despite a "leftist" president (the now ex-President Gabriel Boric).
Argentina's, of course, has been a far more erratic - and underperforming - story (as the late Robert Duvall's Argentine wife liked to say: "Welcome to Argentina, my friend" ).
The Mileise led to a 1.3% slump in '24 (despite a yooge bumper crop, that added to 2% to growth that year) - but growth bounced back to 4.4% last year (at least officially: the statistics director was just fired to refusing to massage the December data - which then came in "unexpectedly" strong).
Growth had actually averaged 5.4% during the 2002-13 boom - but -0.1% during the 2013-23 malaise that followed.
Argentine exports to the U.S. jumped almost 17% in '25 - though that had more to do with Argentina's ongoing Vaca Muerta oil boom that any Trump favors.
And that brings us to Burford's BS lawsuit (actually, a purchased lawsuit). It's no secret that the Brits have been using them in a bid to abscond with the now much-coveted YPF - a top producer in Vaca Muerta (a massive tight oil and gas field in SW Argentina - whose 2011 discovery prompted YPF's 51%-renationalization).
Old pirate customs die hard, it seems.
Burford (and their U.S. sidekick, Eton Park) will no doubt appeal - and that means the Roberts Court, who had a decade earlier (you might recall) sided with Paul Singer's Caymans vulture fund NML in a similar case.
So - we'll see.
All the Best.
