A law firm denies acting in bad faith but filings by the hedge fund based on the ICIJ Panama Papers investigation say otherwise.
Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the massive Panama Papers scandal has to battle a hedge fund managed by a New York billionaire on a new front in Nevada.
According to a report from The Centre for Public Integrity, new filings made by the hedge fund NML Capital owned by billionaire Paul Singer casts doubt on claims made by an employee from the Nevada office of law firm Mossack Fonseca.
MF Nevada employee Patricia Amunategui has been charged by NML of perjury as she testified in 2014 that MF Nevada is an “independent service provider” to Mossack Fonseca and not a subsidiary.
NML and billionaire Paul Singer have an obstruction of justice case against the Nevada office of the law firm. Singer, according to the publication, has long been fighting to recover money lost when Argentina defaulted on government bonds NML owned.
At the onset, Mossack Fonseca was not named a defendant, but its Nevada office was subject to a court order demanding information. The hedge fund wanted to know more of companies they claim were involved in stealing millions of dollars from Argentine government contracts.
The emails uncovered and published this April as part of the Panama Papers investigation of the ICIJ reveal that Amunategui was closely following directives from the Panama headquarters of Mossack Fonseca.
“The evidence shows that Ms. Amunategui did not merely submit an ill-phrased or ill-informed declaration: she participated in efforts to destroy and remove evidence from this jurisdiction after she received NML’s subpoena,” NML said in the filings.
For its part, MF Nevada denies acting in bad faith. They also claimed that Amunategui did not perjure herself because “the question of independence is a mixed question of law and fact.”
The The Centre for Public Integrity notes that even though the court has limited avenues to punish MF Nevada, a significant award for the reimbursement of legal fees can be recovered by NML and Singer.
Late last month the Panamanian firm deregulated their NZ office.
