A private offshore company owned by a Louisiana lawmaker is in hot water after allegedly defaulting on a $22.5m loan to buy a ship.
According to a federal lawsuit filed in New Orleans federal court Thursday, Iberia Marine Services — now part of SeaTran Marine — took out the loan from First NBC Bank to buy the 68-passenger crewboat Lady Eve in 2015.
Less than two years later, the suit says, payments stopped, leaving $22m remaining plus $1.4m in interest owed to SNB V FNBC, the company that took ownership of the loan after First NBC Bank collapsed in 2017.
SNB V FNBC is seeking that $23.4m, plus the ship, for which it has obtained an arrest warrant.
SeaTran was created in 2014 when Iberia Marine Services, Texas Crewboats and COMAR Marine merged. The combined company has 18 ships operating in the Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas industry.
Iberia Marine was founded by Steve Miguez. Miguez's son, Blake, is the chief executive of SeaTrans and was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2015.
SeaTran did not return a request for comment.
