The case of who should have possession of a helicopter used for the businesses owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family is taking off again.
U.S. District Judge Frank Ballou of the Western District of Virginia set a motions hearing for 2 p.m. today.
The 2009 Bell helicopter has been in possession of Bluestone Resources, one of the companies owned by the governor’s family.
Caroleng Investments Limited, parent company to the Russian mining company Mechel that bought and sold properties with Justice, is seeking the helicopter’s seizure over a debt now piling as high as $13 million.
Caroleng hasn’t been able to collect on its judgment through other means. Liquidating the helicopter, conceivably, could satisfy a portion of the debt.
U.S. marshals were directed to seize the helicopter, a reflection of executing judgments already rendered several years ago in the court system.
Bluestone Resources has objected to the helicopter seizure by a company “controlled by a Russian oligarch.” Bluestone’s lawyers say that if the helicopter is seized and liquidated then the money should instead go to different lenders higher up the food chain.
One of those lenders, 1st Source Bank of Indiana, jumped in to identify itself as a lender with a perfected, first-priority security interest on the helicopter.
Lawyers for 1st Source entered a filing last week to elaborate on that claim to the helicopter. The bank says it can show it’s still owed more than $5 million in principle and interest from the loan that included the helicopter. And 1st Source says the loan is secured by a personal guaranty of Gov. James C. Justice II.
“A judicial sale of the helicopter subject to 1st Source’s lien would be futile because no rational third party would purchase the helicopter, which is believed by 1st Source to be worth approximately $1.2 million, if title to the helicopter is encumbered by a roughly $5 million lien,” wrote lawyers for the bank.
