Conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the latest poor country to fall foul of a type of investment company called a ‘vulture fund’. It is being charged $20,000 a week – which will eventually rise to $80,000 – by a Washington DC court. The charges are adding to DRC’s already unpayable debt burden of $11 billion.
Vulture funds – otherwise known as ‘Distressed Debt Funds’ – feed off the very poorest. Usually based in tax havens, the investment companies buy up developing countries’ debts for a fraction of their real value and then sue the country in question for full, immediate repayment, making massive profits in the process.
