Champerty and Debt Justice

New York City is one of the financial capitals of the world — but it is also the site of a deep injustice for many of our immigrant communities. Among the many financial institutions headquartered in New York City are a number of vulture funds, corporations that buy up sovereign debt from foreign countries in order to gain investment returns on the suffering and instability of entire nations. Through their corrupt investments, many of these corporations have either caused or exacerbated the unstable climates of developing countries, causing their citizens to immigrate to cities like New York in search of better opportunity. This issue directly affects our immigrant communities in New York.

CUFFH Action is proud to lead a coalition of economic and immigration organizations in support of a revised champerty bill, which would throughly prohibit the purchase of foreign debts and prevent vulture funds from litigating those debts in New York State courts. While these prohibitions do exist in some form in the state law, their existing status is not sufficiently defended by state charters, and debt justice advocates argue that predatory funds still hold the power of litigation to intimidate debtor nations. Passing this law would help stabilize the home nations of many of our community members and foster stronger economic and cultural ties between these nations and the city of New York.