Vulture fund
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Vulture fund is the popular nickname for a type of profiteering aimed at impoverished countries. Vulture fund investors set up a private equity fund for the sole purpose of literally 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.
On 8 April 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.[1]
[edit] External links
- "From New York to Liberia, Investigative Journalist Greg Palast Tracks Vulture Funds Preying on African Debt" Includes 46 minute video.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Croft, Adrian. "New law limits claims by vulture funds", Reuters UK website, posted 8 April 2010, accessed 10 April 2010.