West Virginia Sen. Justice agrees to pay nearly $5.2 million in back taxes

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia has agreed to pay nearly $5.2 million in back personal taxes, the latest in a saga for the former billionaire that has been followed by a series of financial challenges dating back more than a decade.

Justice’s attorney and his wife, Cathy, entered a joint motion for a mutual adjudication with the federal government on Monday, the same day the government filed a lawsuit saying the couple “neglected or refused to pay in full” income taxes dating back to 2009. An attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s tax division signed the agreement.

Forbes magazine estimated Justice’s wealth at $1.9 billion in the past decade, and stripped him of his billionaire title in 2021, when Justice’s wealth dwindled to an estimated $513 million. Earlier this year, Forbes estimated that Justice’s net worth had collapsed to “below zero” due to liabilities far exceeding assets.

A spokesman for the Justice Office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.

During a press conference with local media in October, Justice emphasized that his companies are “complicated and complicated” and that his children are “doing a great job” running them. He then repeated his previous assertions that the collection efforts against him were politically motivated, before concluding:. “At the end of the day, I would say just let it go and see how it goes.”

Justice, a former two-term Republican governor who owns dozens of companies that include coal and agricultural operations, was elected last November to the Senate. He took over the seat vacated by retiring Democrat Joe Manchin, who became an independent in 2024 near the end of his second full term.

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Justice still has other financial challenges to solve.

The Internal Revenue Service last month filed liens totaling more than $8 million against the judge and his wife over unpaid personal taxes. In September, state tax officials filed $1.4 million in liens against the Justice family’s historic hotel, The Greenbrier, and the resort’s Greenbrier Athletic Club, for unpaid sales taxes.

Last month, a foreclosure auction on several hundred parcels of land owned by the Justice family at a resort near Beckley was halted. The auction centered around a dispute between the Glade Springs Village Property Owners Association and Justice Holdings over unpaid fees. The state Supreme Court plans to review the case closely.

In 2021, the IRS filed liens for more than $1.1 million in unpaid taxes on the Greenbrier Hotel and an additional $80,000 on the resort’s medical clinic. These debts were paid off later that year.

The Justice family settled its debts last year in a separate case to avoid foreclosure on the Greenbrier Hotel. The 710-room hotel, which has hosted US presidents, royalty and Congress, was threatened with being auctioned off on the steps of Louisbourg Court. That was after JPMorgan Chase sold a long-term loan taken out by Justice to the credit collection company, Beltway Capital, which declared it in default.

The state Democratic Party said the effort to seize the hotel from Justice was “a direct result of its financial incompetence.”

Last year, a Greenbrier union official said the Justice family was at least $2.4 million behind on Employee Health Insurance Fund payments, putting workers’ coverage at risk. In 2023, dozens of properties owned by the Justice family in three counties were auctioned off as payment for delinquent property taxes. Others have sought to recover millions in fines over environmental issues and unsafe working conditions at his company’s coal mines.

Justice bought The Greenbrier Resort out of bankruptcy in 2009 for $20.1 million. The Sports Club is a private equity club and residential community on the property that opened in 2000.

The resort at White Sulfur Springs, which dates back to 1778, also includes a casino, a spa, dozens of amenities and employs about 2,000 workers. The resort held the PGA Tour golf tournament from 2010 through 2019, and has welcomed NFL teams for training camps and practices. A secret 112,000-square-foot (10,080 m2) underground bunker built for Congress on the Greenbrier in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cold War now hosts tours.