Paul Singer

Paul Singer (dob: August 22, 1944) is the founder and president of Elliott Management Corporation, a New York-based hedge fund which is currently worth more than $23 billion. As of 23 June 2015 his net worth was estimated at $1.92 Billion. He is also the founder of the Paul E. Singer Foundation a 501(c)(3) non-profit grant making foundation which supports a number of conservative and pro-Israel causes. Singer graduated from Harvard Law School in 1969 and went on to found Elliott Management in 1977. He is a major supporter of the Republican party.

Investments in Distressed Debt

Through the Elliott Management Corporation Singer has invested in distressed sovereign debt and has bet against countries such as Peru, the Congo and Argentina following financial crises. He has succeeded in suing countries in order to get financial returns on his investments. In 1995 the company bought defaulted Peruvian bank for $20 million and sued the country for $58 million. Kensington International, a subsidiary of the company bought $30 million in debt owed by Congo-Brazzaville. In 2002 and 2003 the company was awarded more than $100 million in interest. As of November 2011 Singer had reportedly been able to acquire $39 million of the country's oil sales. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has described Singer as a 'vulture'.

NML Capital, a subsidiary of Elliott Capital has gone to extraordinary lengths to extract the $1.6 billion from Argentina awarded to NML Capital by a New York judge. In 2012 NML Capital won an injunction in a Ghanaian court to hold the flagship of the Argentine navy, the ARA Libertad in the port of Tema.

In response the Argentine foreign ministry said that 'vulture funds had crossed a new limit in their attacks' and that holding the vessel was 'a trick by the unscrupulous financiers.' It was also reported that the ministry stated that the detention of the vessel violated the Vienna Convention's clause on diplomatic immunity.

In December 2012 the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that Ghana's detention of the boat was in violation of international law.

In 2007 a number of bondholders moved to get a court order to detain the Tango 01, the Argentine presidential airplane, and to seize fuel money from the aircraft's pilots. The Argentine government cancelled the trip having learned of the plan. A trip to Germany was also cancelled due to the Argentine government learning of a similar plan to seize the aircraft. Bondholders have also attempted to acquire compensation through the assets of major Argentine politicians:

Holdout bondholders have also gone after the assets of prominent Argentine politicians, including Nestor Kirchner, his wife and current president Cristina Kirchner, and 136 members of her administration, including most of the cabinet. In 2010, Singer’s Elliott got Judge Griesa, who consistently rules against Argentina, to ask Bank of America to disclose all information related to their personal accounts. Elliott has even gone after Argentina’s foreign exchange reserves, coming close to seizing $105 million held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In 2012 NML Capital and EM (owned by Kenneth Dart) were awarded $23 million from the assets of Argentina’s Banco Hipotecario.

NML Capital was represented in its dispute with the government of Argentina by former solicitor general and Bush v. Gore lawyer Ted Olson.

In 2012, then-Florida representative Connie Mack sponsored a bill to force Argentina to pay $3.5 billion to a number of hedge funds including Elliott Management. A number of Elliott employees were significant supporters of Mack's 2012 Senate campaign. Mack claimed to be unaware of Singer's role regarding Argentine debt.

Position on LGBT Rights

Singer is a noted supporter of gay rights. However, the Paul E. Singer foundation funds the Philos Project, a Christian Zionist organisation that has close links with the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Members of the latter organisation, such as Janice Shaw Crouse propagate vehemently homophobic views.

In 2012 singer donated $1 million to Freedom to Marry, a bipartisan gay marriage advocacy group.

In 2012 Singer created the American Unity PAC, a super PAC focused on supporting Republican congressional candidates who support marriage equality. and provided a large donation. The super PAC spent $2million on congressional races. Amongst the donors to the new super PAC was hedge fund manager Seth A. Klarman, who has been described by journalist Max Blumenthal as 'one of the pro-Israel community’s most prolific financial angels and also one of its most ideologically hardline.'

Political Contributions and Campaigning

In 2014 Singer was the third biggest political donor (excluding outside spending groups). He donated $10,622,824 to conservative politicians.

Singer was a major contributor to the pro-Mitt Romney superPAC Restore Our Future during Romney's presidential run. Singer donated $1 million to the superPAC. Singer was reportedly instrumental in the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's 2012 running mate. Singer's close associate Dan Senor was one of the Romney/Ryan campaign's top foreign policy staffers. Senor is a board member of the Christian Zionist Philos Project (for which Singer is a major financial backer) and a director of the Paul E. Singer Foundation.

Singer was a major backer of Rudy Giuliani's 2008 Republican Party primary race and served as his east coast campaign chairman. He donated $172,950 to Giuliani in 2007 and leased one of his private planes to him.

Singer has reportedly provided significant sums to the Koch brothers 'dark-money projects' and to the Club for Growth, an anti-tax pro-tea party organisation that has helped to remove a number of mainstream Republicans from office. Singer has also donated to Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and has approached Susan Ralston, former aide to Rove and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to aid fundraising efforts.

In April 2015 it was reported that Singer was fundraising for Marco Rubio's Republican presidential campaign:

Singer helping Rubio is a coup in the quest for donors among 2016 candidates, as Singer is known for being extraordinarily active in terms of pushing his wealthy friends to also support the candidates and causes he does.

In May 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that Singer was due to host two events for potential presidential candidates John Kasich and Chris Christie.

Israel

In May 2008 Singer visited Israel as part of President George W. Bush's special delegation to Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.

Criticism of the Federal Reserve

At the World Economic Forum in January 2015 Singer accused the US Federal Reserve of fostering economic inequality through quantitive easing:

On Wednesday during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Singer continued his attack on the Fed’s policies. He said that the Fed’s quantitative easing bond buying program has been the main driver of income inequality and is exacerbating social instability around the world.

“Inequality is a function of the government’s policies,” said Singer. “There is no question that QE is adding to it.”

Singer admitted that while the U.S. has experienced inequality before, but he said that the players involved in the past were different. He argued that the fact that current inequality is being driven by a rise in investment is clear evidence that the Fed is responsible.

Opposition to Financial Regulation

Singer supports the repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

Among Elliott's allies is Rep. Scott Garrett, the New Jersey Republican who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission. Garrett has fought to slash the SEC budget and calls Dodd-Frank "unconstitutional." In 2010, Elliott executives ponied up nearly $200,000 for two campaign committees that helped Garrett and also boosted his stature with fellow Republicans; a large chunk of one of the committees' funds went to assist other members. Singer and other Elliott execs have also opened their wallets wide for Cantor, who has led efforts to protect a massive tax break, known as carried interest, that allows hedge funders to pay very low capital-gains rates on their income.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

During the 2004 presidential election campaign cycle Singer raised Wall Street funds for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the organisation that attacked presidential hopeful John Kerry's war record in Vietnam.

California Voting System

In September 2007, Singer was revealed to be the sole donor to Take Initiative America, an organisation created to promote a proposed ballot measure that would shift California's winner-takes-all electoral college voting system to a system that likely benefit Republicans:

The Presidential Election Reform Act would have changed the winner-take-all election rules for the 55 electoral votes in Democratic-leaning California. It would have required the electoral votes to be distributed based on the popular vote winner in each congressional district. Many political observers said that would probably have provided an unexpected windfall for Republicans - perhaps as many electoral votes as could be gained in a major state such as Ohio or Pennsylvania - and possibly changed the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

Since Singer was intimately involved in Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign Democrats accused the Giuliani campaign of money laundering and seeking to effect the outcome of the presidential election:

"This puts this money-laundering operation right inside the Giuliani campaign ... with Rudy's top donor and his closest confidants," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist and spokesman for Californians for Fair Election Reform, which fought the GOP-backed ballot measure.

"Federal election law is clear. If you're a presidential candidate, you or your agents can't direct money to a campaign that impacts the presidential campaign ... and there's no better way to rig the campaign than to impact the electoral college system."

Affiliations

• Manhattan Institute - Chairman of the Board

• Elliott Management Corporation - Founder and President

• Paul E. Singer Foundation - Founder

• Commentary Magazine - Board Member

• Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs - former Board Member