The financial problems of Governor Jim Justice and his family’s business empire continue to grow, as the Greenbrier Hotel, one of the largest assets of the governor’s numerous companies, is scheduled to be put up for public auction later this month due to default.
The auction was announced via Legal notice was published Wednesday in Lewisburg’s West Virginia Daily News and first reported by Brad McElhinney of West Virginia MetroNews.
According to the listing, the auction will take place on August 27 at 2 p.m. in front of the Greenbrier County Courthouse. The property being auctioned totals 60.5 acres and does not include the entire Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Several amenities, including golf courses and other land, are not included.
At an auction, the ad says, the property will go to the highest bidder for cash.
Justice bought the resort in 2009. It was in financial jeopardy due to a global recession after years of exorbitant renovations. according to reporting in the Gazette-MailThe previous long-time owner, CSX Corp., had laid off half of its workforce and filed for bankruptcy. In the previous five years, the company had incurred losses of $90 million.
In a statement, the Justice Companies called the foreclosure “another political ploy by the Democratic Party machine.”
According to the statement, Justice was notified on July 1 that his loan with JPMorgan had been sold to Beltway Capital. Beltway Capital then declared default, filed suit against the governor and his companies, and began foreclosing on Greenbrier.
“This fraudulent move by JPMorgan is nothing less than the latest political ploy by Democrats to undermine the next Republican Senator from West Virginia,” the Justice Companies said in the statement. “Over the past few days, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s close ties to the Democratic Party and his support for the Biden-Harris administration and continued Democrat control of the Senate have been well documented. This political ploy is just the latest in several rounds of attacks on Governor Justice and his companies for political gain.”
Before the loan was sold, Justice’s debt burden was reduced to $9.4 million, the statement said.
Attorney Bob Wolford added in the statement that the resort would not be sold and that the company would take “all necessary measures” to ensure that no adversely affect their ownership of the Greenbrier or the Greenbrier’s business.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Mike Pushkin, chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party, pointed out that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is a defender of former President Donald Trump and a Critics of President Joe BidenThe foreclosure was not the result of a political trick by the Democrats, the statement said.
“Governor Jim Justice’s reckless financial conduct has not only embarrassed himself, but has cast a shadow over West Virginia on a national level,” said Pushkin, Democrat of Kanawha. “His actions are a disservice to the hardworking citizens of our state who deserve better leadership and fiscal responsibility. [than] what they get from the con man in chief. West Virginia deserves a governor who puts the needs of his citizens above personal gain.”
The foreclosure on the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. is the latest in a series of blows to the Justice family’s sprawling corporate empire.
Last May, the Federal Ministry of Justice Lawsuit filed against Justice, his son, and 13 of their coal mining companies for failure to pay $5 million in health and safety penalties imposed on the companies in several states.
Also in 2023, Carter Bank & Trust attempted to collect on a $300 million debt from loans to the family businesses. According to MetroNews, an ad was placed in newspapers announcing an auction of the Greenbrier Sporting Club (another Justice asset) to pay off the debt. The Justices filed suit and the auction was take a break.
In February, the State Tax Authority filed seven liens against The Greenbrier for unpaid sales tax totaling $3.5 million accrued from June to November 2023. Last month, two of those liens – totaling nearly $900,000 – withdrawnThere are five liens totaling over $2.7 million outstanding against Greenbrier Hotel Corp.
In May, a federal judge approved the sale of a family helicopter for $1.4 million to a construction company based in India. The sale came after a months-long dispute between Justices Bluestone Resources and Caroleng Investments, which sought to collect millions of dollars the Justices said it owed to a Russian mining company for a deal originally struck in 2009. Bluestone, according to MetroNewshas never paid the millions of dollars in royalties promised to the Russian company when it sold several mining properties back to Justice in 2015.
Last month, according to MetroNews652 properties valued at $338,385 were auctioned off from family-owned businesses in Raleigh, McDowell and Monroe counties because property taxes had not been paid and warnings had been ignored for over a year.
These are just a few of the countless Examples of lawsuits, liens and more filed against Justice Properties over the past decade for unpaid taxes, bills and fines.
However, the financial problems have not harmed Justice’s political career. The Republican governor, who has already served two terms, is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Joe Manchin (IW.Va.). As a Republican, he is the clear favorite in the race against his Democratic opponent, former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott.
The governor regularly describes himself as a businessman rather than a politician and uses that background to justify his stance on state policy and, in particular, the state’s financial health.
When asked about issues involving his personal business dealings, Justice has frequently attacked the media and, like lawyers for the Justice family’s companies on Thursday, blamed politics.
Despite his numerous business dealings, Justice has refused to place his companies into a blind trust during his term as governor. He insists that his family – namely his children – are responsible for running the business empire during his term. However, the governor continues to list them as assets in required financial reports.
After winning the May primary, Justice said he would “probably not” put his businesses into a blind trust if he were sent to Washington, DC.
“My kids are doing a good job,” he said, but if they want to ask him for advice on business decisions, he wants to be able to give them his input, he continued.
