Lee Harris, a writing fellow for The American Prospect, appeared on Hill.TV’s “Rising” to discuss President Biden’s recent appointee for the role of the new chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Scott Nathan.
Nathan was recently tapped and confirmed to lead the organization which is responsible for partnering with private sector agencies to finance solutions for issues of concern in the developing world.
Harris specifically discussed Nathan’s past of almost two decades at a Boston-based hedge fund called The Baupost Group which was a major creditor to Puerto Rico.
“And not only Puerto Rican debt, also distressed debt in Greece after the eurozone crisis there and also Iceland,” Harris added. “So this is a firm that’s really pushed hard on the so-called vulture fund hedge fund strategy of becoming a creditor to countries when they’re at their most vulnerable.”
Harris also said that The Baupost Group has also been a major investor in fossil fuels, including corporations like BP.
“That’s all kind of par for the course in distressed debt hedge funds, but it is really striking that someone who is being put in charge of green development – and development especially in Latin America and the Caribbean- would come from a hedge fund with this record,” Harris said.
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