Argentina calls on US to intervene in default row

Argentina yesterday called on Washington to intervene in a court case over the country’s defaulted debt after a US district judge threatened the South American country with contempt for making what he called false statements.

US Judge Thomas Griesa, overseeing Argentina’s long-running battle with hedge funds over defaulted debt, said on Friday he would issue a contempt of court order unless the government stopped publicly claiming it had met its obligations and was not in default.

Argentina’s cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich countered, yesterday, that a contempt order would violate the country’s sovereign immunity and he called on the Obama administration to rein in Judge Griesa.