Georgia-Pacific paid mother Koch $2.5 billion dividend in 2022 (1)

Georgia-Pacific LLC, a paper products maker that bankrupted a subsidiary to limit asbestos liabilities, paid out about $2.48 billion in dividends to its own parent company, Koch Industries Inc., in 2022, according to court filings.

The dividends were paid as a bankrupt Georgia-Pacific entity, Bestwall LLC, continues its longstanding battle with creditors over how much to pay on its debt from more than 64,000 asbestos claims.

Bestwall has been working to subpoena data from several settlement funds to test its theory that victims are attempting to collect more than they are owed after more than five years of bankruptcy. …