US coal mining billionaire slaps Greensill Capital with lawsuit for ‘continuous and profitable fraud’
A coalmining firm owned by the governor of West Virginia is suing collapsed UK lender Greensill Capital for ‘continuous and profitable fraud’.
Bluestone Resources, owned by American billionaire and Republican politician Jim Justice, claims it is fighting for survival after its ‘sudden and unjustified abandonment’ by Greensill, which called in administrators last week, and which provided the company with £612million worth of loans between 2018 and 2021.
In a lawsuit filed in New York, Bluestone says it had been in talks with Greensill about fresh financing, and that Greensill failed to disclose its ‘increasingly perilous financial situation’.
US coalmining Bluestone Resources is suing Greensill capital and has reportedly named founder, financier Lex Greensill (pictured), in the lawsuit
Bluestone claims that Greensill had indicated it was stable and committed for the long term.
It says that if it had known the full extent of Greensill’s troubles, it would have ‘immediately sought alternative financing’.
Greensill proprietor, financier Lex Greensill, was named in the lawsuit, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The case is the first example of a client of the lender taking legal action against it.
Greensill provided finance to a range of customers such as Sanjeev Gupta’s steel empire, Bluestone and Vodafone.
The collapse has thrown the precarious finances of some firms into turmoil as they seek credit.