Holders of $5.4 billion in defaulted Argentine debt won a ruling that they weren’t treated equally with owners of restructured government bonds, another legal setback for the nation in its long-running showdown with creditors, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa ruled on Friday that Argentina violated an equal-treatment provision in its contracts with hedge fund and individual bondholders in 36 cases by refusing to pay them while it made regular payments to holders of the country’s restructured debt. The decision increases pressure on the South American nation, which has been locked out of international debt markets since its $95 billion sovereign debt default in 2001, to reach an agreement with its creditors.
