A federal judge on Friday rejected an attempt by a major Puerto Rico bondholder to throw out the U.S. territory’s historic municipal bankruptcy case, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that the creation by the U.S. Congress of a financial oversight board for Puerto Rico under a law known as PROMESA and the appointment of the board’s members did not violate the U.S. Constitution. “The oversight board’s statutory objectives and scope of authority thus mark its character as territorial rather than federal,” Judge Swain’s ruling said. Aurelius Capital Management, an investment firm with a specialty in distressed debt, filed a motion last year arguing that the board’s creation violated the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause. The hedge fund sought to dismiss the board’s May 2017 federal court case to restructure the territory’s roughly $120 billion in debt and pension liabilities.
