ROANOKE, Virginia – A federal judge issued an order giving a company owned by Gov. Jim Justice 72 hours to turn over a helicopter at the heart of multiple pieces of litigation.
U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou issued the order March 1 against Bluestone Resources. Caroleng Investments has been seeking the seizure of the 2009 Bell Heli-X helicopter to help satisfy a $13 million debt.
Ballou already had ordered the helicopter to be sold to pay Caroleng, which owns Russian mining company Mechel. The helicopter is worth about $1.2 million.
“Bluestone shall surrender the Helicopter to Heli-X or its named agent in an orderly manner, together with all logs and records, all accessories, attachments, parts, repairs, additions, accessions, substitutions, and exchanges relating to the helicopter, within 72
hours of entry of this Initial Sale Order,” Ballou wrote in his order. “Bluestone shall take immediate steps to reprogram the Helicopter’s transponder to allow for inflight tracking.”
Ballou also gave Caroleng guidance on what to do if Bluestone doesn’t turn over the helicopter.
“Should Bluestone fail to surrender the Helicopter in the manner described, Caroleng shall be authorized to proceed with enforcement, seizing the helicopter with the aid of the U.S. Marshals Service, and delivering it to the custody of Heli-X,” he wrote.
Justice sold his family’s coal assets to Mechel in 2009 for $436 million plus 83.3 million preferred shares of Mechel stock, but Justice bought Bluestone back from Mechel in 2015 for $5 million. Justice reopened mines that had been closed by Mechel.
As part of that deal, Bluestone was to pay Caroleng $3 per ton in royalties for mined coal as well as a portion of future sales. But Caroleng said Bluestone didn’t make the royalty payments. That led to the legal action.
Mechel was awarded $8.4 million plus interest in 2019 in an international arbitration. Caroleng says the debt still hasn’t been satisfied. The helicopter would pay part of that debt, but Bluestone has refused to turn it over because it says Caroleng is “controlled by a Russian oligarch.” It also says other creditors should get the money for the helicopter first.
One of those creditors is 1st Source Bank of Indiana. It says Bluestone still owes it millions for the helicopter and other loans. Caroleng and 1st Source have been working on a plan together, but 1st Source filed its own lawsuit last month against Bluestone seeking more than $4.5 million in debts. It mentions other property to seize, such as construction equipment.
Once the helicopter is sold, the money will be held in escrow as Caroleng and 1st Source work out the details.
Justice and his businesses have seen several legal setbacks in recent weeks.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia case number 7:23-cv-10010