BoNY wants out of Elliott’s battle with Argentina

Leave us out of it!

Caught in a legal crossfire, Bank of New York Mellon is arguing that it should not be forced to help Paul Singer’s Elliott Management collect as much as $1.3 billion from Argentina.

An appeals court recently upheld a ruling requiring Argentina to pay the New York hedge fund each time it pays other bondholders, which, unlike Elliott, agreed to a debt restructuring several years ago.

Judge Thomas Griesa ruled that all agents of Argentina are also bound by the order, and Elliott named Bank of New York as one of them.

As trustee, BoNY is responsible for making Argentina’s payments to investors who agreed to the restructuring. But the bank will argue that it is not an agent of Argentina and has an “arms-length” relationship with the country in a brief it plans to file later today, sources told The Post.

BoNY will argue that its sole responsibility is to the vast majority of bondholders who agreed to take a haircut after Argentina defaulted on $100 billion of debt in 2002. The bank receives payments from Argentina and holds that money in trust for those investors.

Argentina has rejected the court order and insists it will not pay Elliott, which is demanding to be repaid in full. At the same time, the country said it will continue to pay the other bondholders.

Nonetheless, those bonds have tanked since the appeals court ruled in Elliott’s favor on fears that the court would tie BoNY’s hands. If BoNY were unable to pay those bondholders without violating a court order, Argentina could be forced into a second default.

More than $3 billion in payments to those bondholders is due in December, unless Argentina’s stay is extended beyond then.

To pay Elliott, Griesa suggested BoNY take money out of funds slated for the exchange bondholders to pay Elliott.

“Some money is due to the plaintiffs out of those December payments,” Griesa said during a court hearing last week.

As a result, those bond investors are also lining up to oppose the order. Brevan Howard, the powerful UK hedge fund, and MFS Investment Management, a big Massachusetts money manager, have joined with hedge fund Gramercy in opposing the order, The Post has learned.

“Exchange bondholders not only are not getting adequate time, but their property is being taken unlawfully,” said Sean O’Shea, the attorney for these investors, who collectively own more than $1 billion worth of Argentinan bonds.

The prominent law firm of David Boies has teamed with O’Shea to represent these bondholders, and more institutions are expect to file briefs with the court next week to oppose the order.

mcelarier@nypost.com

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Former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz pens book about reinventing the city

Former Miami mayors don’t usually write books anyone would want to publish, much less read.

Then there’s Manny Diaz. Whether you admire him like many in Miami and across the country do, or excoriate him as some at home did, Diaz was hardly shy about embracing big plans and notions. And few would disagree that the city was a far different place when he exited City Hall in 2009 after two terms in office.

So it should come as no surprise that Diaz has written a book for a national audience, recapping his greatest hits as mayor. Recall police reform and Irish-cop Chief John Timoney, Midtown Miami, the downtown condo boom, the “mega-plan’’ and the innovative Miami 21 zoning plan. It’s been published by the über-serious University of Pennsylvania Press. No vanity press project, this.

But Miami Transformed: Rebuilding America One Neighborhood, One City at a Time, is no policy wonk-fest, either. A breezy read at just over 200 pages — index and foreword by New York mayor and Diaz buddy Michael Bloomberg included — the book is meant as a concise case-study of how a poor, crime-ridden and economically stagnant medium-sized city can be swiftly transformed into a flourishing, swaggering metropolis with a hurtling skyline and its own Tom Wolfe novel.

“I wanted to keep the book short and easy to read,’’ said Diaz, who will appear at the Freedom Tower for the Miami Book Fair International on Friday evening. “You can lose someone with a 750-page book really fast. So it’s sort of conversational, talking about how we got to where we are.’’

If features, of course, an ambitious Cuban-refugee protagonist who arrived as a 6-year-old child, grew up happy in Little Havana despite poverty, studied hard and became a successful lawyer and behind-the-scenes political fundraiser and operative. Then he was thrust into the spotlight by the curious case of another young Cuban refuge-seeker: the rafter-child Elián González, whose Miami relatives Diaz famously represented.

Diaz was in the family home in Little Havana, working on last-minute negotiations, when the Border Patrol broke down the door at gunpoint to take Elián, and says he still feels betrayed by then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, a former Miami-Dade state attorney who ordered the raid.

There is little inside baseball and only a few reveals: For instance, Diaz earned $1.10 an hour working as a janitor at Belen Jesuit Prep, where he was a student, under a federal jobs program.

All this and more is quickly recounted before Diaz, who wrote the book with longtime collaborator Ignacio Ortiz-Petit, gets into the heart of the matter: The eight years he served as mayor, which coincided with a dramatic real-estate boom and helped usher Miami into the rank of world cities with a changed downtown, regenerated neighborhoods, a growing, young population and the kind of buzz even the best promotional hype can’t buy.

The overriding goal of his administration, Diaz writes, was to bring the middle-class back to Miami from the suburbs by improving substandard city services, fostering both private development and affordable housing, and rebuilding crumbling streets. He also focused on creating alluring amenities, including parks, museums, and arts and cultural institutions, which he says are proven economic generators.

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Florida tourist numbers keep going up

Summer brought more tourists to Florida this year than last, according to preliminary numbers from Visit Florida.

The state’s official tourism marketing corporation said 21.9 million people visited the state in the third quarter of the year, 3.5 percent more than last summer.

The number of domestic travelers, which make up the vast majority of visitors, increased 3.2 percent. Overseas visitors jumped 5.5 percent and Canadians increased 4 percent.

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Dina Lohan Cried For Weeks After Lindsay Fight

"It just hurt me so bad," reveals Dina Lohan of daughter Lindsay's accusation she was high on cocaine during a heated altercation that later went viral on the internet.

Video: I'm Proud Lindsay Came Clean After Lying, Says Dina Lohan

Although the Lohan matriarch assures ET that all is well now between the two, she admits it took her quite a while to put the painful scuffle behind her.

"I cried for weeks," Dina says. "She knew how horrible that was and she came clean and told the truth that she lied. I'm very proud of her for that, which is very difficult to have to do."

Pics: Time and Time Again -- Lindsay Lohan Court Timeline

As for rumors that she is broke and her home is nearing foreclosure, Dina tells ET that the talk is simply "not true."

"I don't know where that comes from, but I'm here to say we're okay."

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City to reinstate alternate side parking rules for five Brooklyn neighborhoods

Bad news for residents of some of Brooklyn's trendiest neighborhoods.

The city is reinstating alternate side parking rules in Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Gowanus, Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill.

The rules had been eased "indefinitely" due to the storm in Community Board 6, which covers all of the neighborhoods.

Although those neighborhoods weren't badly hit in the storm, neighboring Red Hook, which is also in CB6, was.

Alternate side parking remains suspended in Red Hook.

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Norwegian Cruise Line testing drinks package

Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed it is testing an all-inclusive drink package on three ships.

The Miami-based cruise operator is offering the package on Norwegian Sun, which is sailing from Miami; Norwegian Gem, which departs from New York and Norwegian Jade in Europe.

The package costs $49 per person per day, plus gratuity. Online cruise magazine CruiseCritic.com posted a story about the package earlier this week after being alerted by a member.

In August, Carnival Cruise Lines started testing a drinks package called “My Awesome Bar Program.” The program is still being tested on Carnival Victory, Carnival Splendor and Carnival Breeze.

The cost is about $50 a day including tip and allows passengers 21 and older to get unlimited wine, beer, spirits, soda and frozen alcohol-free cocktails — as long as they cost $10 or less. The line offers a 25 percent discount on more expensive drinks as well as full bottles of wine and champagne.

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Doubters debate Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria’s intentions after player purge

If Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria goes against his word and sells the ballclub, the sooner the better for Miami-Dade County taxpayers.

That’s because the 2009 contract negotiated among the Marlins, the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County says the percentage of profits the governments would pocket if the team is sold is greatly reduced — and grinds to zero — over the next two years.

Profit-sharing was one of the last issues negotiated in what was widely viewed as a lopsided deal in favor of the Marlins. It was so contentious it delayed a final vote on building the ballpark by a month. The parties finally agreed that if Loria was to sell the team during the first year of the contract, starting in 2009, the county and city would split 18 percent of any profits.

If Loria was to sell the team in 2013, the city and county would split 7.5 percent of any profits. In 2014 that number lowers to 5 percent, and starting in 2015, all profits go only to the Marlins.

Calculating exactly what that means to each stakeholder is tough because the Marlins could claim all types of costs that would lower their profit margin. But factoring the $158 million Loria paid for the team in 2002, and a Forbes Magazine estimate of the ballclub’s value last month at $450 million, if the team were to sell in 2013, the governments would split about $22 million.

Calls Wednesday to team President David Samson and spokesman P.J. Loyello were not returned. But in media interviews, the Marlins insisted they are not selling or moving the ballclub.

On Tuesday, only four months after trading former franchise cornerstone Hanley Ramirez and his remaining $40 million contract to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and dumping pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Heath Bell, the Marlins sent most of the remaining popular names on the team packing to Toronto. The series of trades will reduce payroll by more than $200 million, but Tuesday’s trades still haven’t received the required endorsement of Major League Baseball.

The purge, which sparked immediate outrage, did not come as a surprise to stadium opponents. Loria suffered the indignity this year of having the lowest attendance of any ballclub in a new stadium in more than three decades.

County Mayor Carlos Gimenez — who won his post in part by fighting the ballpark deal — speculated Wednesday that Loria could avoid splitting any profits by selling 49 percent of the team now, and the remainder in 2015 when the profit-sharing ends.

“They stopped one trade short — they need to trade owners,” Gimenez said. “I’ve never cared for this ownership group, and look, they’ve done it again. I don’t think they’ve got any credibility left.”

Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said the public has lost confidence in the Marlins ownership.

“I think he’s [Loria] set up the team for a sale that would maximize his profits,” Sarnoff said. “I think everyone is looking for him to sell, and I think it’s a good day when he does.”

In an interview Wednesday with Miami Herald columnist Dan Lebatard on 790AM The Ticket, Samson wouldn’t say if the team plans to increase payroll from what is now a $16 million roster, and said the Marlins would be in Miami for “generations.’’

Neil deMause, who chronicled a one-sided stadium deal in his book Field of Schemes, said Loria may have simply decided there was more benefit to having a low payroll than chancing a high one and not winning.

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First 9 Minutes of 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Revealed in IMAX

Ready to Star Trek Into Darkness in IMAX? Trek fans, film fans and sci-fi geeks alike will get a special treat starting next month when Paramount Pictures will release the first 9 minutes from J.J. Abrams' eagerly-awaited Star Trek sequel exclusively in IMAX 3D, which doesn't beam into theaters until next May.

Video: ET Flashback -- 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'

The first-look at the movie – which used IMAX cameras to capture several sequences, putting moviegoers right into the explosive action and vast scope of the film -- will play in approximately 500 digital IMAX 3D theatres beginning December 14, marking the first time exclusive footage has played in IMAX 3D and only the third time a first-look will be released in IMAX.

IMAX Filmed Entertainment Chairman and President Greg Foster raves, "Our longtime partners J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and the Bad Robot team have really hit it out of the park – the footage is absolutely incredible. Their use of the IMAX Camera and canvas is sure to impress current and future Star Trek fans alike, and we're thrilled to once again work with our friends at Paramount Pictures to offer this extended 'first look' at this highly anticipated summer blockbuster."

Related: Meet 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Star Benedict Cumberbatch

Getting excited yet? Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters and IMAX on May 17, 2013.

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Truck driver who allegedly hauled pot busted over Facebook threats

A truck driver charged with secretly hauling huge loads of pot for a major drug ring was busted for allegedly using Facebook to threaten the family of a co-worker who stole $30,000 in drug proceeds from him.

Edgar Encarnacion-Lafontaine is accused of sending online messages in Spanish warning that his ex-driving partner’s relatives were “in great danger” if he didn’t get his dirty money back.

One message said “even if you block us it does not matter because we will publish even on your town page what kind of traitors and petty-thieves are your brother-in-law and your sister and that is why they are going to pay,” Manhattan federal court papers charge.

Encarnacion-Lafontaine also allegedly visited the Brooklyn home of his ex-partner’s mother in October, two days after she found an unsigned letter under her doormat that said, in Spanish: “Avoid law enforcement, if not, you will not be able to save the family in the Dominican Republic.”

Encarnacion-Lafontaine, who had been free on bail, was ordered locked up yesterday after appearing in Manhattan federal court on charges including extortion and witness tampering.

He was previously charged in 2010 with conspiracy in connection with the feds’ Operation Green Venom, which shut down a cross-country drug racket allegedly headed by Manuel Geovanny Rodriguez-Perez, who’s accused of ordering five murders to protect his illegal business.

According to court papers, Encarnacion-Lafontaine previously worked for a trucking company that made deliveries for FedEx, and he was caught on wiretaps trying to arrange his routes so he could transport high-grade weed from California to New York.

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Stand Your Ground task force has little to show for six months of work

TALLAHASSEE --
Created in the wake of national uproar over Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, a 19-member task force spent six months traveling the state and taking public testimony about Florida’s most controversial self-defense law.

The result? Little, if anything, will change.

The task force commissioned by Gov. Rick Scott to review the Stand Your Ground law prepared its final report Tuesday, indicating that the law is mostly fine as it is.

In a report to the Legislature, the group offered up only minor tweaks to the Stand Your Ground law — including changes that could actually make it easier to claim self-defense after killing someone.

“We reaffirm the validity of the legislation that was enacted in 2005 and the importance of the ability of a truly innocent victim to be able to stand his or her ground” if they are attacked, said Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, who helped draft the law.

The report sparked immediate criticism from gun control advocates and some lawmakers.

“I didn’t expect anything. I really truly didn’t expect anything,” said Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens. “It was a Republican-dominated commission and it was full of people who supported Stand Your Ground to begin with.”

Ultimately, the task force’s final report asks the Legislature, the courts system and the law enforcement community to review the law further to make sure it is applied equally and fairly.

The Citizen Safety and Protection Task Force was commissioned by Gov. Rick Scott in April after Trayvon, a 17-year-old teenager from Miami Gardens, was shot dead by a Sanford neighborhood watch volunteer. Citing the Stand Your Ground law, police originally declined to charge the shooter, George Zimmerman, sparking nationwide protests. Zimmerman was eventually arrested, and is awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges.

Passed in 2005 and backed by the National Rifle Association, the Stand Your Ground law grants legal immunity to people who use deadly force if they reasonably believe their life is in danger.

Two dozen states have passed similar laws since 2005, and several studies show that so-called “justifiable homicides” have increased significantly in the places that have enacted stand your ground laws. Reports have also shown that the law has had disparate impacts on racial minorities, and many of the people who have successfully used it are ex-felons.

Those studies were not incorporated into the task force’s final recommendations, though the group urged the Legislature to fund a Florida-based study.

“They systematically decided not to review those studies,” said Ginny Simmons, executive director of the Second Chance on Shoot First campaign backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We presented them in September, we’ve mailed them to the task force, we printed them out and presented them again today.”

The task force held seven public meetings in different parts of the state to hear recommendations from experts and members of the public. Floridians who spoke during the meetings were often emotional about the law, with many speaking of loved ones who had been killed by people who later successfully claimed self-defense.

More than 10,000 of people wrote letters and emails to the task force, either defending the law or condemning it.

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