I missed this on Sunday – coincidentally, a day before Portfolio’s story about vulture funds came out – but Tony Allen-Mills has a very good article in the UK’s Sunday Times about the long-running fight between Elliott Associates and Congo-Brazzaville. He’s has a lot of sympathy with the vultures:
In the course of its near-decade-long pursuit of Congo, Elliott has probably done more than any other national or corporate entity to expose corruption in Africa. It has identified the middlemen who facilitate corrupt payments; it has traced the money trail from British oil traders to luxury boutiques in Paris.
Obviously my views are closer to those of the Sunday Times story than the Portfolio story. But make up your own mind: read them both, and see which one you consider to be more compelling.