Vulture Funds

Take Action to Stop Vulture Funds!

Tell Congress: You Can Stop What’s Really Scary this Halloween!

Halloween is the perfect time to send a message to Congress about something that has poor countries shaking in their boots: Vulture Funds. Vulture Funds are predatory hedge funds that siphon off newly freed resources from debt cancellation. They profiteer off debt cancellation resources by buying up poor country debt in default at pennies on the dollar and then abusing US Courts to sue for the full amount of the debt plus exorbitant interest rates and court fees. Instead of US tax dollars going to poverty alleviation projects like building schools and treating HIV/AIDS, they go into the bank accounts of greedy Vultures.

Luckily, you can tell Congress to stop this behavior once and for all! Send a Halloween message to your House Representative telling him to co-sponsor the Stop Vulture Funds Act, which will prevent further misuse of our Courts in Vulture Fund cases against poor countries.

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Representative,

As a concerned constituent and taxpayer, I urge you to co-sponsor the Stop VULTURE Funds Act, H.R. 2932. The Stop VULTURE Funds Act will protect my tax dollars from the hands of greedy companies that are pursuing poor country resources freed up from debt cancellation. Instead of going to social spending on clean water access, HIV/AIDS treatment, and education for vulnerable children, debt cancellation funds are now at risk of being siphoned off and put in the bank accounts of these predatory hedge funds called Vultures. They are abusing our good will to voluntarily participate in debt restructuring and cancellation, and they misuse our court system to profiteer off of poor country debt. Currently there is a case in Washington D.C courts in which the Democratic Republic of Congo – a country wrought by civil war and poverty – is being sued by a Vulture Fund and is racking up $80,000 every two weeks in court fees. I do not want my court system or my tax dollars to be used to make Vulture Funds richer at the expense of countries that are already in trouble because of war, disease, and poverty. The Stop VULTURE Funds Act, H.R.2932, will prevent Vulture Funds from utilizing US courts to profiteer off of resources freed up from debt cancellation. The Act: • Prohibits using a US court for the purpose of sovereign debt profiteering, defined as pursuing the payment of a defaulted debt in an amount that exceeds the total amount paid for the debt by the creditor. • Caps the judgment Vulture Funds can receive to 6% annual return over the amount the debt was purchased • Requires greater transparency from Vulture Funds, who operate in secrecy and are often based in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. Under H.R.2932, creditors will disclose who owns the debt, how much it was bought for, whether fraud took place in acquiring the debt, and any upcoming legal claims against poor country debtors. I hope you will join me in stopping Vulture Funds from undermining the achievements we’ve made through debt cancellation. It is simply wrong for my tax dollars to go into a private bank account instead of their original intended purpose of fighting poverty. Please co-sponsor the Stop VULTURE Funds Act today! To cosponsor, contact Kathleen Sengstock in Representative Maxine Waters’ office.
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