New York Judge Loretta Preska denied a motion filed last week by an NGO seeking to intervene in the YPF expropriation case. The organization, named Republican Action for Argentina and led by Argentine lawyer Fernando Irazu, argued that the disputed nationalized shares were obtained through corruption.

The NGO sought a court-ordered criminal investigation by the United States Department of Justice, a stay of the proceedings during that investigation, eventual indictments and prosecution, and the dismissal of Preska’s court’s judgment against Argentina.

On a Monday decision, Preska wrote that the NGO had “no cognizable interest in the litigation” and that its request was “untimely” since it came after her final ruling. The next day, the NGO appealed Preska’s decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Republican Action for Argentina claimed in its arguments that, in 2008, four years before the expropriation, the Petersen Group bought 25% of the YPF stake from the Spanish company Repsol in an illegal maneuver orchestrated by the Kirchner family. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was the president at the time.

In 2012, Argentina expropriated 51% of the shares of YPF. Three years later, British hedge fund Burford Capital bought the rights to litigate on Petersen’s behalf and took Argentina to court, claiming the country had failed to make a tender offer to buy their YPF shares when it nationalized the company.

Argentina lost the case in 2023, and Preska ordered the country to pay US$16.1 billion.

Irazu told the Herald that the NGO, however, does not need to be part of the case. “The Argentine government has emphatically endorsed our position and may now take our arguments to redirect the case,” he added.

A source with knowledge of the matter said Republic Action for Argentina’s motion was “symbolic” and was not going to define the case. Argentina’s strategy, the source added, relies on the appeal it filed in 2024 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.