A group of hedge funds have told a UK judge that Argentina had a "propensity" to manipulate economic data to save billions of dollars. The accusation came as part of court case linked to payments the four funds are due on instruments linked to Argentina's GDP, according to a report by Reuters

Palladian Partners, HBK Master Fund, Hirsh Group and Virtual Emerald International Limited, first filed their suit in 2019, claiming Argentina owed payments linked to euro-denominated securities linked fating back to 2013. The funds are seeking damages of up to €643 million at London's High Court basing their case on the claim that Argentina's economic statistics were “the subject of political direction” under former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who served from 2007 to 2015. 

Lawyers representing Argentina have responded by telling Judge Simon Picken that allegations of a “giant conspiracy” to avoid repayment are incorrect and that holders of Argentina's GDP-linked securities since have been paid nearly $10 billion since they were first issued in 2005.