ROANOKE, Virginia – The sale of a helicopter formerly owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s business has been approved by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou approved the sale May 30, according to a Western District of Virginia filing. The copter was sold for $1.4 million to India-based B.G. Shirke Construction Technology.
The money from the sale will be used to satisfy a debt by Justice-owned 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.
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 ,.against Bluestone seeking more than $4.5 million in debts. It mentions other property to seize, such as construction equipment.
1st Source identified itself as a lender with a perfected, first-priority security interest on the helicopter, also saying Bluestone still owes millions for the helicopter and for loans on other property.
Recent court documents show Caroleng and 1st Source “have entered into an agreement for the division of the sale proceeds of the Helicopter, which will be duly communicated to the escrow agent.”
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia case number 7:23-cv-10010