NEW: Argentina’s former first family, the Macris, made a secret deal with a disgraced Austrian bank. The deal helped the bank manipulate other creditors in an infamous postal service bankruptcy case.
Our investigation with @LANACION 🇦🇷 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
Our investigation with @LANACION 🇦🇷 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
The Macris acquired Correo Argentino, the state postal service, before leading it into receivership. A previously hidden audit of Meinl bank shows how the Macri patriarch, Franco, later secretly gave Meinl control of Correo’s debts in a deal that raised suspicions in Austria. 2/
While the Macris were negotiating with creditors, the audit shows, the ties between them and Meinl were multiplying.
Once the secret deal was struck, Meinl started to make decisions that seemed to favor the Macris ahead of itself. 3/
Once the secret deal was struck, Meinl started to make decisions that seemed to favor the Macris ahead of itself. 3/
The bank went on a buying spree of Correo's debt, hoovering up ~$121m worth of liabilities, for which it had paid less than $6m. Soon, it owned 38% of the company’s total debt, giving it significant leverage over other creditors — which it used to the Macri family's advantage. 4/ 
There have been numerous attempts at payment proposals for the debt over the years. One in 2016 led to then-President Mauricio Macri being charged with public administration fraud for accepting a plan prosecutors said would have effectively wiped out the company’s debts. 5/
After nearly 20 yrs, a court is preparing to finally rule on who's responsible for Correo’s debts and either accept a rescue proposal from the Macris, or declare the company bankrupt. Bankruptcy could mean the Macris are forced to shell out billions of pesos in debt repayment. 6/
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