Swiss miss for Singer in Argentina squabble

In its battle with hedge-fund honcho Paul Singer of Elliott Management, Argentina may have found at least one safe haven: Switzerland.

Switzerland’s Federal Council on Wednesday rejected an effort by an Elliott unit, NML Capital, to embargo Argentine assets deposited in the Bank for International Settlements, which serves as the central bank for the world’s central banks. The Swiss government said it had no authority over the BIS.

Argentina and Elliott have been sparring for years over the country’s refusal to pay as much as $2 billion that the hedge fund could be owed on Argentina’s defaulted bonds.

Elliott recently created an international incident when it convinced a Ghana court to detain an Argentine naval ship, the ARA Libertad, to help satisfy its claim.

The BIS deposits are the gold mine, as Argentina shifted the bulk of its $60 billion in foreign reserves there to avoid seizure.

“They were swinging for the fences,” said sovereign law professor Mark Weidemaier. “If they could somehow get their hands on these assets, it would be quite a coup.”