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	News Center Bondholders in the United States and Italy rejected the offer La Nacion April 23, 2010 Nicola Stock denied any acceptance; they will ask for payment to retirees in American Senate Elisabetta Piqu Italy Correspondent ROMA.- Nicola Stock, president of Task Force Argentina (TFA), an association that represents some 180,000 Italian bondholders that still hold US$4.3 billion in Argentine bonds that fell into default, yesterday categorically denied an article by Ambito Financiero that said that he supports the swap offer recently launched by the government (but still not approved by the CONSOB, the Italian regulatory agency). "It's completely false what Ambito Financiero said and it's evident that the usual Argentine strategy of disinformation is starting, which we've been through in the past," Stock said to LA NACION, without hiding his indignation. Expressing himself in similar terms from Washington was Mark Botsford, a holder of Argentine bonds that today will appear before the New York Senate to demand payment of debt to "retirees and small investors that were swindled by the then-government of Argentina and that this government wants to trick once again," he said. Botsford, who is working in the joint promotion of legal actions with "bondholders from Italy, Argentina and everywhere," said that the article in questions "is a maneuver" from Argentine authorities that, overall, he said, "shows that they are starting to fear that the swap is not going to save them like they planned." The article that both referred to reported that TFA rejected the 2005 offer and argues that, in recent months, there were various "secret" meetings between Stock and Finance Secretary Hern n Lorenzino. It states that Stock had thanked the Argentine economic team in writing for their "good will" in improving the offer to small bondholders. And it even said that they'd sealed a "pact" in which Stock would not publicly support the transaction, nor criticize it, but in private would counsel the bondholders to accept the new swap offer. "I'm speechless it's all absolutely false: I never met with Lorenzino in Rome last week because, as he well knows, I was in Washington following the case that TFA presented against Argentina in the ICSID, the World Bank tribunal. Nor did I tell the Argentine economic team, in writing or verbally, anything of any kind, nor my support of the offer, which both Minister Boudou and Lorenzino have both said publicly will be inevitably pejorative compared to 2005. And neither did I forge any secret pacts, which would be over the limit," Stock said. "Besides being totally false, the article by Ambito Financiero has many errors: it says I'm a bondholder, which is not remotely true, and that it estimates some US$3 billion is defaulted bonds are in the hands of Italian bondholders, which is also not true. The Italian bondholders have obligations for US$4.3 billion not including interest, and with them Argentina never negotiated in good faith on the terms of a debt restructuring," he added. Hearing in New York Stock reiterated that he will take a position on the swap offer launched by the government only when it gets the green light from the CONSOB. At the same time, in Washington, Botsford reiterated his rejection of the swap offer and let it be known he is working on a "better" offer, which contemplates "millions and millions of retirees that lost their savings from buying Argentine bonds." Botsford explained that all this he will argue in a hearing scheduled by the Senate in New York. "The basic idea is that the swap is being done at the measure of the vulture funds," who "are making fortunes buying for pennies the bonds that were held by retirees with water up to their necks." The presentation will be in the same jurisdiction where the courtroom of Judge Thomas Griesa is based. Also participating will be Argentina Task Force (ATFA) which, led by American Robert Shapiro, also is trying to get debt paid to investors. With the collaboration of Silvia Pisani, Washington correspondent		U.S. Government Takes Action Click here to view letters by the Administration and Members of Congress on Argentina's debt and economic policies. The Debt and Europe Click Here To Read More ATFA Member Spotlight National Taxpayer's Union Open Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives: Protect Taxpayers from Judgment-Evading Nations Click here to view other ATFA member activity Join Us Show your support for ATFA and our work regarding debt default by joining our growing list of supporters.   Tell Your Friends Do you have friends or colleagues who would be interested in supporting ATFA? Send them an invitation to this site byclicking here.

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