A helicopter that had belonged to one of Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies before it was targeted for seizure to help repay company debt has been listed publicly for sale.
The 2009 Bell helicopter is , a website that lists new and used aircrafts for sale. The page is accessible at .
The page says those interested must call for the price of the helicopter, which is listed as located in Colleyville, Texas, the home base of the broker where a federal judge on March 1 ordered the Justice company, Bluestone Resources Inc., to surrender the helicopter.
The broker is Helicopter Exchange Ltd., or Heli-X, which did not respond to a call seeking information about the aircraft Monday.
The listing includes a description that reads, “Two Owners Since New, No Damage History, Complete Aircraft Record Since New, Bell Service Center Maintained.â€
Listed features and equipment include:
- Garmin GMA 35 remote audio control panel
- Garmin G500 electronic flight display system
- Pilot standby instruments (airspeed & altimeter)
- Dual controls
- Rotor brake
- Wire strike protection system
- Engine fire extinguishers.
Chopper valued in court filings at $1.2 million
Sale and surrender terms for the helicopter were proposed last month by a British Virgin Islands firm that Bluestone failed to pay a roughly $13 million judgment and another Bluestone creditor that had claimed interest in the helicopter.
The proposal was filed jointly by Caroleng Investments Ltd., the British Virgin Islands firm, and South Bend, Indiana-based 1st Source Bank.
Bluestone and 1st Source had argued that sale of the helicopter, which they estimate is worth roughly $1.2 million, would be futile, since the proceeds would go first to satisfy a 1st Source $5.07 million lien, with no proceeds remaining to satisfy Caroleng’s interest.
But a federal judge ruled that Caroleng had a “valid, enforceable money judgment†and that 1st Source hadn’t indicated how it would be negatively affected, if a seizure order were implemented. The judge required the parties in the case to submit a joint proposal for sale of the helicopter.
Upon identification of a prospective buyer, details of the sale must be communicated to the court, which would ratify the transaction through a final sale order.
1st Source sued Bluestone last month for over $4.5 million, alleging breach of contract for money loaned to the company per promissory notes and other loan documents. 1st Source reported in its complaint that it’s looking to seize 45 property items from Bluestone it says were used as collateral to secure unpaid loans.
Listed were 18 fuel, lube, haul and rock trucks; 12-wheel loaders; five bulldozers and tractor dozers; and four motor graders at unspecified values.
Firm said Justice company didn’t honor ’15 agreement
In June 2021, a Delaware federal court ordered Bluestone to immediately pay roughly $10.1 million, plus 9% interest from May 2020 until the sum is paid, to Caroleng, which had asked the court in December 2020 to enforce the arbitration award decided earlier that year.
Caroleng said Bluestone didn’t meet its obligations under a 2015 agreement under which it sold coal-producing property and assets to Bluestone in exchange for a cash payment, future royalty payments and, in the event that Bluestone resold any of the transferred property or assets to a third party, contingent payments.
Caroleng said Bluestone sold some of the equipment and property in January 2017, 11 days after Justice became governor, triggering obligations under the 2015 agreement.
Justice’s family and business finances have taken major hits in recent weeks as he mounts a 2024 U.S. Senate run.
In January, a Virginia circuit court judge formally denied attempts by Justice, his family and businesses to set aside documents admitting over $300 million of debt owed to Carter Bank & Trust, a Virginia bank trying to collect that debt.
Last month, a Greenbrier County Circuit Court judge scheduled a hearing for April on motions in a case in which Greenbrier Sporting Club companies that loom large in Justice’s business empire have moved to block a Carter Bank-planned auction of key club properties to collect on debt they say they’re owed through a 2015 trust deed.
Justice pledged that he would put his children in charge of his family’s business operations upon taking office in 2017. The governor has suggested in some court proceedings and interviews since taking office that he remains familiar with his coal companies’ operations.
Justice has insisted his business empire is in fine shape.
“Our businesses continue to move right along and do quite well,†Justice said in a news briefing last week.
