photo by: W.Va. Governor’s Office
From a possible auction of the Greenbrier Resort to sanctions against his companies’ officials, Gov. Jim Justice has pushed back on questions by the press regarding his business issues in recent weeks.
CHARLESTON — Headlines focusing on the business woes of Gov. Jim Justice’s once $1 billion empire are nothing new. But the last few days and weeks have seen Justice’s companies hit with additional tax liens and penalties, with at least one reporter being banned from briefings for merely asking about these issues.
“I welcome your questions and everything,” Justice said at his July 25 weekly administration briefing. “The one thing I absolutely go to my grave with is I want to be fair. If it gets to the point in time when things are totally absurd and ridiculous — fake news and stuff and it goes on and on and won’t stop — then we’ve got to go a different direction.”
The big news Thursday was Justice’s historic Greenbrier Resort being placed on the auction block on Tuesday, Aug. 27, after the current holder of a $142 million promissory note — Maryland-based Beltway Capital Management — declared the loan in default.
According to representatives of Justice’s companies, the loan — originally owed to JPMorgan Chase Bank — was paid down to $9.4 million with the most recent payment in June. The original promissory note was made with JPMorgan in 2014 with a new mutual agreement made in 2021 after Justice pledged a second lien position for the resort behind Virginia-based Carter Bank and Trust to obtain better terms on the JPMorgan loan.
Justice company executives accused JPMorgan and Beltway Capital of playing politics by transferring the loan and putting the loan in default. Justice, wrapping up his second and final four-year term as governor, is the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate for the seat held by the retiring U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. He faces Democratic opponent and former Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott in November.
According to Justice’s most recent U.S. Senate financial disclosure report filed on July 13, the governor has a 5.8% on-demand line of credit between $25 million and $50 million from McCormick 101 LLC. The company shares an address with Beltway Capital, which specializes in loan acquisitions.
But the possible auction of the Greenbrier — likely to be paused should the companies seek a stay in Greenbrier County Circuit Court — was not the only bad news for the historic resort in White Sulphur Springs. Tax liens put in place by the state Tax Department continue to plague the resort.
In March, the combined total of taxes, interest, and penalties owed to the state came to more than $3.5 million according to the Greenbrier County Clerk’s Office. The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation owes the state for consumer sales and use taxes and withholding, as well as owed interest and penalties.
But according to records at the end of July, the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. still owes more than $2.7 million in tax liens and penalties. That is after two tax liens were released on July 8 and July 16 totaling $897,615. Another lien of $388,540 was released in April. But that same month a new lien of $518,006 was added for sales taxes not paid by Dec. 21, 2023.
Justice and first lady Cathy Justice reported more than 147 assets on their most recent U.S. Senate financial disclosure report. According to that report, these assets were worth between $290 million and more than $1.9 billion.
Justice reported ownership in 108 companies according to his 2024 financial disclosure report with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, with eight of those companies placed in blind trusts. Daughter Jill Justice manages Justice’s hospitality businesses, such as the Greenbrier. But the bulk of Justice’s businesses focused on coal, agriculture, and real estate are managed by his son, Jay Justice.
In an order filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove is holding Jay Justice and Stephen Ball, the general counsel for several of the Justice-owned business, in civil contempt of court and fining them $250 per day until they file required discovery showing the financials of Kentucky Fuel Corp. and James C. Justice Companies Inc.
“Since the beginning of this long-suffering case, the Defendants have engaged in a campaign of delay,” Tatenhove wrote in his order. “Their perpetual reluctance to cooperate has already resulted in admonishment, sanctions, and ever-increasing fiscal liabilities in the form of attorneys’ fees and expenses.”
Fivemile Energy and New London Tobacco Market filed suit against Justice in 2012 and was awarded $18 million over a dispute between the companies regarding mineral rights. The Justice companies have since been accused of shifting assets to other Justice-owned companies to avoid paying the award.
In another case, Caroleng Investments Ltd. — a company based in the British Virgin Islands and the parent company of Russian mining and steel company Mechel — filed a proposed order in July in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that seeks the court’s permission to be liquidating the assets of Justice-owned Bluestone Mineral Inc. and all companies under its umbrella.
Justice sold his coal mining interests in Bluestone Resources to Mechel in 2009 for $578 million in cash and stock. Justice bought Bluestone Resources back in 2015 for $5 million. Justice agreed to pay Caroleng Investments royalty payments as part of the deal to buy back the coal company from Mechel based on a per-ton of coal sold, as well as a certain percentage of any future sales. However, Caroleng Investments filed suit against Justice after his companies started withholding the royalty payments.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a judgment in 2021 in favor of Caroleng Investments for $10.1 million, including $8.4 million in a final award and $1.7 million in pre-award interest. The court also set a 9% interest rate retroactive to May 13, 2020, as long as the amount remains unpaid.
Justice has often been dismissive of questions from press regarding the condition of his businesses. Despite personally guaranteeing loans for his companies while serving as governor and having access to zero interest on-demand lines of credit from several of his businesses, Justice continues to claim no involvement in day-to-day decisions of his businesses.
However, the Justice administration has banned WV MetroNews Statewide Correspondent Brad McElhinny from participating in his weekly administration briefings after asking the governor on July 11 about hundreds of tracts of land owned by Justice’s companies in Raleigh, Monroe, and McDowell counties that were on the auction block in July because of unpaid property taxes. According to WV MetroNews, the 652 parcels were valued at $338,385.
“Can you provide an explanation about what is going on with those unpaid taxes,” McElhinny asked.
“I really and truly don’t even know why we continue to take your questions,” Justice told McElhinny. “At the end of the day, it’s like a constant barrage over my family’s stuff. At the end of the day, it seems to always get worked out. My job is to be your governor.”
The governor’s weekly administration briefings continue to be conducted virtually with no in-person participation by reporters allowed. Reporters must RSVP to the Governor’s Office in order to receive a Google Meet link to participate over webcams. McElhinny has requested meeting links for the past three briefings and has not been allowed to participate.
Speaking at the end of his July 25 weekly administration briefing, Justice said he is fine with tough questions from reporters, but hinted that repeated questions regarding his businesses could result in other reporters being ignored.
“There have been times that all of you have asked me questions that have been tough questions to answer. I am good,” Justice said. “You don’t hear me just beating the drums and screaming ‘this is fake news and blah, blah, blah.’ I don’t do that. At the same time, when you’ve got incident after incident after incident after incident…then you’ve got to move on.”