Paul Elliott Singer
SOURCE: Wikipedia, 2020-10-20
This page last modified: 2020-10-20 11:29:28 -0700 (PST)
[Image source. Click image to open in new window.]
This article is a stub [additional content pending ...].
Paul Elliott Singer (born August 22, 1944) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, activist investor, and philanthropist, with a net worth of $3.6 billion according to Forbes. Paul Singer is also the founder and CEO of NML Capital Limited, a Cayman Islands company.
Paul Singer's philanthropic activities include financial support for LGBTQ rights. Paul Singer has provided funding to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, is a strong opponent of raising taxes for the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers and opposes aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act. Paul Singer is active in Republican Party politics and Singer and others affiliated with Elliott Management Corporation (EMC) are collectively "the top source of contributions" to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Elliott Management Corporation
The Elliott Management Corporation is an American investment management firm. The Elliott Management Corporation is also one of the largest activist funds in the world.
The Elliott Management Corporation is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P., and Elliott International Limited. The Elliott Corporation was founded by Paul Singer, who is CEO of the management company, based in New York City. As of the first quarter of 2015, Elliott's portfolio is worth over $8 billion. By 2009 "more than one-third of Elliott's portfolio was concentrated in distressed securities, typically in the debt of bankrupt or near-bankrupt companies." The Elliott Management Corporation has widely been described as a vulture fund.
Fortune magazine described Paul Singer as one of the "smartest and toughest money managers" in the hedge fund industry. A number of sources have branded Paul Singer a "vulture capitalist," largely on account of his role at the Elliott Management Corporation (EMC), which has been called a vulture fund. Paul Singer has been criticized for ruining the town of Sidney, Nebraska by forcing Cabela's to merge with Bass Pro Shops.
The Independent has described him as "a pioneer in the business of buying up sovereign bonds on the cheap, and then going after countries for unpaid debts." In 1996 Paul Singer began using the strategy of purchasing sovereign debt from nations in or near default -- such as Argentina, and Peru -- through his NML Capital Limited and Republic of the Congo through Kensington International Inc.
Paul Singer's practice of purchasing distressed debt from companies and sovereign states and pursuing full payment through the courts has led to criticism. Paul Singer and EMC defend their model as "a fight against charlatans who refuse to play by the market's rules," and supporters of the practice have said it "help keep kleptocratic governments in check."
Kleptocracy
Kleptocracy (from Greek κλέπτης kléptēs, "thief", κλέπτω kléptō, "I steal", and -κρατία -kratía from κράτος krátos, "power, rule") is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.
Kleptocracy is different from plutocracy (rule by the richest) and oligarchy (rule by a small elite). In a kleptocracy, corrupt politicians enrich themselves secretly outside the rule of law, through kickbacks, bribes, and special favors, or they simply direct state funds to themselves and their associates. Also, kleptocrats often export much of their profits to foreign nations in anticipation of losing power.
[ ... snip ... ]
Additional Reading
[Wikipedia] Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd.
-
Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., 573 U.S. ___ (2014), is a U.S. Supreme Court opinion regarding foreign sovereign immunity. After defaulting on its debt and losing a federal collection action, Argentina claimed that its foreign assets were immune from discovery. The Court found that no such immunity existed. ...
-
In 2001 Argentina was in a severe economic depression. NML Capital, a 'vulture fund' that specializes in distressed sovereign debt, purchased Argentine public bonds at extreme discounts off a panicking market. Argentina then defaulted on $103 billion of debt. After announcing that it would not pay its debts Argentina offered its creditors a choice: accept new bonds worth 70% less, or receive nothing. The vast majority of bondholders accepted the new bonds. NML Capital did not.
Instead, NML Capital brought a collection action against Argentina in Manhattan federal district court. Finding that Argentina did have to pay its debt, District Judge Thomas Griesa ordered Argentina to pay plaintiff $2.4 billion and, pari passu, to stop favoring other creditors over NML Capital.
Argentina responded by pulling its assets out of the United States. Seeking to satisfy the judgment order, NML Capital undertook a worldwide search for Argentina's assets, at one point convincing Ghana to seize the Argentine Navy's ARA Libertad and forcing Argentina's president to charter private airplanes to avoid having her state aircraft confiscated.
As part of its search for attachable assets NML Capital served subpoenas on Bank of America and Banco de la Nación Argentina. Argentina moved to quash, claiming that as a sovereign the locations of its assets were immune from discovery. Judge Griesa disagreed, ordering discovery on all assets "reasonably calculated to lead to attachable property." On Argentina's appeal the Second Circuit affirmed the discovery order. Still refusing to comply, Argentina then petitioned for a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States, and the petition was granted. Arguments were held on April 21, 2014, with Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler appearing as an friend supporting Argentina and Theodore Olson appearing for the hedge funds.
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-15] As Paul Singer Donated Millions to Republican Governors Association, Public Funds Flowed Into His Hedge Funds. Funds were invested despite the fact that Singer's flagship hedge fund has been badly underperforming the market over the past decade.
[2020-02-14] "must-read:" NYC Taxpayers Spending Millions On Cyber Center With Controversial Ties To Israeli Intelligence.
-
Israeli mentions (does not mention the NSO Group): Jerusalem Venture Partners | SOSA | Mega Group | Israeli military intelligence units (Unit 8200 | Team8) | Bronfman family (Fiona Darmon | Claridge Israel) | Innovation Hub | defense-related programs, companies (INNOFENSE | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems | ELTA Systems | Elron Electronics | Elbit Systems) | CheckPoint Systems | Leumi Tech | Israeli American Council.
Other mentions: CyberNYC | Leumi Tech | Goldman Sachs | Paul Singer (Start Up Nation Central) | Guy Franklin (CEO of SOSA) | ...
... Of the $100 million in funding for the CyberNYC initiative, $30 million comes from New York taxpayers and the remaining funds coming from the program's partners, which includes Goldman Sachs, and the Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200 incubator Team8, a start-up accelerator which has been discussed at length in several past MintPress News reports, including the recent MintPress investigation into the Israeli company Cybereason -- a partner of Team8.
Team8, particularly its presence in New York, has long been associated with the push by pro-Israel political donor and American hedge fund manager Paul Singer and Israel's government to make Israel the global cybersecurity leader as a means of preventing countries from boycotting Israel over human rights violations and war crimes. Team8's role in CyberNYC will see them not only finance part of the initiative but also training cybersecurity workers who will be hired as part of the partnership.
Paul Singer, who is based in Manhattan, created Start Up Nation Central in 2012 to specifically outsource American tech jobs to Israel in collaboration with top AIPAC officials and Israel's government. Meanwhile, in parallel, Israel's government and intelligence apparatus began a policy that same year that involved outsourcing intelligence and military intelligence operations to private companies created for that very purpose, particularly in the field of cybersecurity.
Thus, much as Israel's cybersecurity industry has long been fused to Israel's military and intelligence apparati, the Paul Singer-funded and Israel-backed policy has openly sought to bring American companies and government agencies into the fold in order to prevent boycotts of Israel. Though the so-called "anti-BDS laws" that have been passed in several U.S. states are one facet of this push, the use of Israeli tech, namely cybersecurity, sector to pursue this same end has received decidedly less coverage. ...
Return to BuriedTruth.com