Argentina tells US judge it prefers technical default to paying bond holdouts

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina is refusing to give up its fight against bond holdouts who want payment in full plus interest for defaulted debt that most other bondholders accepted steep discounts on as the country climbed out of its historic economic crisis.

Argentina argues in a filing made just before Friday's midnight New York deadline that its money is immune from U.S. judgments. It says it won't pay despite losing on appeal last month.

Instead, it wants the full appellate court to overturn a smaller panel of its own judges, arguing that trillions of dollars in debt issued by governments around the world is at stake.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has vowed never to pay billionaire Paul Singer's NML Capital Ltd.

NML said this week that Argentina owes it $1.45 billion.