MARTINSVILLE, VA — Virginia-based Carter Bank has said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has sold more than $200 million in past due loans taken out by U.S. Senator Jim Justice and family for their businesses to an “unaffiliated third party.”
The filing was made Thursday, according to various reports, but further specifics were not announced. Carter Bank will report its first quarter earnings next week.
Carter Bank sold the loans’ principal of nearly $209.5 million for nearly $289.5 million. Carter has said it has lost millions on the loans because they are no longer earning interest.
The Justice Family, which has been working to pay down the loans after going in and out of court with the bank, will now owe someone else.
The loan amount was personally guaranteed by Sen. Justice, wife, Cathy Justice and son, Jay Justice, several years ago.
Jim Justice had a friendly and beneficial relationship with founder Worth Carter until the banker’s 2017 death. The officials who then assumed responsibility for the bank instituted more rigid financial practices. At that point, the bank had extended more than $750 million in loans to the Justices.
Millions of dollars were paid down on the Carter debt, and the lawsuit filed by GLAS contended the source was loaned money from Greensill.
Seeking more financing to support its metallurgical coal properties, Justice’s Bluestone in 2018 entered a supply chain financing agreement with Greensill UK. Over time, Greensill advanced Bluestone more than $700 million.
The lawsuit contended the Justices used a portion of the money to pay off loans that Bluestone owed to Carter — and then went farther by using the money borrowed in Bluestone’s name to pay down Carter debt by other branches of the Justice companies.