AFF Ad Campaign Highlights Culture of Corruption Under Puerto Rican Governor Padilla

USA - English

• Latin America - español

DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Future Fund (AFF), a national 501(c)4 organization, launched its latest advertising campaign aimed at exposing the culture of corruption under Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Padilla that should alarm investors, creditors and taxpayers.

Nick Ryan, Founder of the American Future Fund, said: "Governor Padilla continues to lead a government that disregards The US Constitution.  His repeated efforts to publicly shame political opponents, rip up legal contracts and fleece unsuspecting businesses to save face is not only wrong, it is illegal."

Under Governor Padilla, Puerto Rico has:

• Racked up huge levels of public debt through the opaque and politically-controlled Government Development Bank, at the expense of unsuspecting investors;
• Violated the U.S. Constitution by enacting an illegal bankruptcy law that destroys the rights of creditors and eviscerates individual pensions that are invested in the island's public utility;
• Trumped up charges against a private bank in order to seize the bank's assets to enrich political cronies;
• Threatened a NY-based rating agency with investigation and persecution after the agency downgraded the creditworthiness of the island; and
• Presided over public corruption that has transformed Puerto Rico into a major transit point in the global drug trade originating from Venezuela.

Ryan concludes, "Puerto Rico is becoming an unsafe place to invest.  Governor Padilla can change course, and do the right thing.  Nancy Soderberg, a Democrat and former Clinton administration official, put it best, saying Governor Padilla must "uphold property rights, the rule of law, contractual rights and the rights of investors and creditors".

To view the initial advertisement click here.

Background
Governor Padilla and his government have undertaken a full-blown attack on the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution and investor rights.  The first example, Doral Financial Corporation, a US-based bank and mortgage lender that Puerto Rico lawfully entered into a contractual agreement in 2012 acknowledging the Commonwealth owes Doral over $230 million.  The agreement was ratified by both parties yet again in 2013. But Governor Padilla and his government are now refusing to honor this contract. Moreover, Doral's regulator - the Office of the Financial Institutions Commissioner - and key political leaders including the Department of Justice are threatening the bank and its employees. These actions, coming after Doral's decision to file litigation to enforce its agreement with the government, are disturbing, and an abuse of power by Governor Padilla and his government.  The second example involves a new law, the Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act, which was rammed through the legislature by Governor Padilla.  This law would allow the Puerto Rican government to repudiate the debts of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and could leave the lights on the island literally being turned off because of Padilla's actions.  This action stiffs investors and pensioners to the benefit of a few select bondholders that are covering for the GDB.  This law violates the U.S. Constitution, and has led the island's bond ratings to be downgraded to junk status.

SOURCE American Future Fund