Debt-holders who want to jumpstart restructuring talks with Argentina may have to wait until a court rules next month on whether to let a disputed bond payment go through, further extending a legal feud that has hobbled state finances, Business Insider reported. The case stems from Argentina's 2002 default on about $100 billion, which has weighed on Latin America's No. 3 economy by locking it out of the global bond market at a time of stagnant growth and high inflation.

As a virtual monopoly in a country with some of the most promising offshore oil reserves in the world, Petrobras has a web of relationships with most of the global leaders in the sector, the Financial Times reported. Those linked to the growing scandal, which some estimate cost Petrobras up to $20bn, will potentially face scrutiny not only from Brazilian investigators but also from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice.

Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s president, swept back to power in 2013 on the back of pledges to fight inequality and put an end to the deeply entrenched privileges enjoyed by the country’s traditional elite, the Financial Times reported. So her government’s credibility took a serious blow when the single mother’s eldest son, Sebastián Dávalos, was earlier this month accused of using his influence to secure a bank loan. The ensuing uproar was such that he was forced to resign last week as head of a charitable foundation normally run by Chile’s first lady.

Creditors of Eneva SA stand to lose as much as 65 percent of their investment in the Brazilian power producer as part of a bankruptcy protection plan unveiled on Thursday. Rio de Janeiro-based Eneva, which in December filed for protection from creditors after failing to honor part of 2.33 billion reais ($822 million) in debt, offered a lump sum of 250,000 reais to each unsecured creditor, according to a securities filing. Creditors who accept the largest discounts will be given top priority when it comes to repayments, the filing said.

The accusations of corruption at Brazil’s state-controlled petroleum giant Petrobras have already led to a political scandal and a change in management. Now, the problems are threatening other Brazilian companies and may even tip the country into recession, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. It would be hard to overstate Petrobras’s importance in Brazil.

US holders of defaulted Argentine bonds have stepped up their campaign for full repayment of their loans by detailing how 14 senior Argentine officials experienced “dramatic and often unexplained increases” in their personal wealth during service in the Kirchner administrations, the Irish Times reported.

Brazilian police said they seized seven cars, including a white Lamborghini, and $32,490 in cash, computers, watches and other items on Friday from embattled oil and mining tycoon Eike Batista, who is on trial for insider trading in Rio de Janeiro, Reuters reported. Batista resigned as chairman of Oleo E Gas Participações SA , the flagship firm in his once-expansive EBX conglomerate on Jan. 27, two months after the trial started. The company formerly known as OGX is emerging from Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy restructuring.

A judge in Rio de Janeiro has ordered the freezing of all of embattled businessman Eike Batista ’s financial assets and ordered the seizure of up to 1.5 billion reais ($547 million) of his physical assets, including real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported. The orders cover the assets of Mr. Batista’s sons, Thor and Olin Batista, and those of his former wife, Luma de Oliveira, and his current girlfriend, Flávia Sampaio, Judge Flávio Roberto de Souza said in an interview.

A court in Brazil's São Paulo state seized on Friday 8.9 percent of the shares that construction group OAS SA has in infrastructure company Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura SA, alleging that the debt-ridden group is in imminent risk of insolvency. Judge Roberto Corcioli Filho of the state of São Paulo Justice Court told Reuters that he ordered the seizure at the behest of Pentágono SA DTVM, which as a trustee represents the interests of holders of 160 million reais ($60 million) in OAS local debt notes.

Venezuelans have put up with shortages and long lines for years. But as the price of oil, the country’s main export, has plunged, the situation has grown so dire that the government has sent troops to patrol huge lines snaking for blocks. Some states have barred people from waiting outside stores overnight, and government officials are posted near entrances, ready to arrest shoppers who cheat the rationing system, the International New York Times reported.