Vulture fund

{{Expand}}[[File:Eagle_beak_sideview_A.jpg|right|thumb|165px|A griffon vulture, miffed about being compared with crooks. Vultures are, after all, merely scavengers, not criminals, and have a useful purpose.]]
{{Economics}}
{{cquote|The Bank has already delivered more than $40 billion in debt relief to 30 of these countries...thanks to this, countries like Ghana can provide micro-credit to farmers, build classrooms for their children, and fund water and sanitation projects for the poor. Yet the activities of vulture funds threaten to undermine such efforts... the strategies adopted by vulture funds divert much needed debt relief away from the poorest countries on earth and into the bank accounts of the wealthy."|||Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice President, 2007<ref>[http://www.dannyleipziger.com/documents/LetsStopVultureFund.pdf "Let's Stop Vulture Funds From Preying on the Poor"]</ref>}}
A '''vulture{{efn|Sorry for comparing you to crooks, dear birdie!}} fund''' is is a type of hedge fund that is used for profiteering off of impoverished countries. Vulture fund investors set up a private equity fund for the sole purpose of robbing from the poor and giving to the rich. A typical ''modus operandi'' of vulture fund operators is as follows:

# A group of investors purchases the debt of an impoverished nation that is on the verge of monetary collapse.
# The investors then wait for the [[United States]] and/or other wealthy nations to send humanitarian (monetary) aid to that country.
# The investors then sue said impoverished nation in an effort to force that nation to hand over the humanitarian aid as payment.<ref name=CFI>[https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/wealth-management/vulture-funds/ Vulture Funds], ''Corporate Finane Institute''</ref>

==Examples==
During its 2001 economic crisis, [[Argentina]] defaulted on $82 billion of debt, resulting in much of it being purchased by vulture funds. This led to numerous problems, such as education budgets needing to be cut to pay off the vulture funds. Other places that have had issues with vulture funds include [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].<ref name=CFI />

On April 8, 2010, the [[United Kingdom]] became the first country to limit the amount that vulture funds can collect.  Under the new law, vulture funds cannot collect payments that the World Bank deems unsustainable.<ref>Croft, Adrian.  [http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE63748920100408 "New law limits claims by vulture funds"], Reuters UK website, posted 8 April 2010, accessed 10 April 2010.</ref>

On September 9, 2014, the [[United Nations]] voted on a treaty for a new process to deal with bankruptcy of sovereign nations. The vote passed 124-11 in favor, with 41 abstentions. This resolution has been lauded as "historic" due to the UN finally taking measures to protect nations from predatory vulture funds.<ref>[https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/09/09/18761405.php ''International''] "UN Votes for Process to Enact Bankruptcy Treaty and Stop Vulture Funds," 2014</ref>

==Participants in vulture funds==
*Apollo Global Management<ref>[https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/bill-clinton-gave-six-figure-speech-vulture-fund-apollo/ Bill Clinton Gave a Six-Figure Speech to a Controversial Vulture Fund as His Wife Ran for President], Patrick Caldwell, ''Mother Jones'' 1 June 2016</ref>
*Paul Singer<ref>[https://hedgeclippers.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HP8-1.pdf Paul Singer: Vulture Fund Pioneer], ''Hedge Clippers''</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/3/vultures "From New York to Liberia, Investigative Journalist Greg Palast Tracks Vulture Funds Preying on African Debt"]  Includes 46 minute video.

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Deceit]]
[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Financial fraud]]
[[Category:Imperialism]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Scams]]

Categories: Business, Deceit, Economics, Financial fraud, Imperialism, Neologisms, Scams