Greenbrier Hotel Set for Public Auction; Justice Calls Move ‘Political Stunt’
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The Greenbrier Hotel, the luxury property owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family, is set to be auctioned to the highest bidder on the Greenbrier County Courthouse steps at the end of this month.
A legal advertisement posted in the West Virginia Daily News in Lewisburg cites default on the terms and conditions of a deed of trust as the reason. Justice and his family claim the move against the sitting governor and U.S. Senate candidate is a "political stunt."
The auction is scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 27 in Lewisburg. The property to be auctioned off totals about 60.5 acres and encompasses the hotel itself and its parking.
Yet Bob Wolford, an attorney for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Miller Johnson which is representing the Justices, said that auction isn't going to happen.
"Let me be clear that the Greenbrier will not be sold, and the Justice family will take all necessary action to ensure that there will not be any adverse impact on their ownership of the Greenbrier or the Greenbrier's operations and the ability of the Greenbrier to continue to provide world class service for its guests will be uninterrupted," Wolford said in a statement released Thursday morning.
The Justices bought the resort for $20 million in May 2009. It had declared bankruptcy in March of that year, listing $500 million in debt and just $100 million in assets.
The deed of trust at the heart of this public auction went into effect in December 2014 and stated a promissory note made by Justice was secured by JPMorgan Chase Bank for $142 million. According to the statement released Thursday, Justice and JPMorgan "has had a longstanding personal banking relationship," and that Justice had pledged a second lien position in the Greenbrier Resort behind Carter Bank & Trust "to obtain better banking terms from JPMorgan Chase."
Justice has paid down his debt to JPMorgan substantially, the statement read, and under a mutual agreement in effect since 2021, that debt has been cut down to $9.4 million. Payments have been made as recently as this past June, according to the statement.
Then, the statement continued, on July 1, JPMorgan notified Justice that, despite that mutual agreement, the bank had sold the loan to Beltway Capital. Beltway then immediately declared the loan to be in default, sued Justice and some of his companies and commenced foreclosure proceedings against the Greenbrier.
These moves came, the Justices claim, as a political strike against Gov. Justice, who is now the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. Justice faces former Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, the Democratic candidate, in the November general election.
"This deceitful move by JPMorgan is nothing more than the latest political stunt by the Democrats to undermine the next Republican Senator from West Virginia," the statement read. "In recent days, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's staunch ties to the Democrat party and his support for the Biden-Harris administration and continued control of the Senate by the Democrats have been well documented. This political stunt is just the latest of several rounds of attacks on Governor Justice and his businesses for political gain."
According to Thursday's statement, Justice and his companies will "vigorously defend their position and take necessary protective action while they continue to evaluate significant damage claims against JPMorgan and the other parties involved."
Justice has turned over day-to-day management of his coal, agriculture and hospitality businesses to his children, Jay Justice and Dr. Jill Justice. Justice family business woes have been in the news lately. In June, a U.S. district court judge in Delaware issued an order allowing for the liquidation of Bluestone Minerals, Inc., which is a holding company for five other Justice-owned companies.
That order satisfied a 2021 judgment for $10.1 million in favor of Caroleng Investments Ltd., a company based in the British Virgin Islands and the parent company of Russian mining and steel company Mechel.
Justice has personally guaranteed multi-million-dollar loans for his companies during his two terms as governor with legal cases by those financial institutions still pending. He called any stories about that June court order a "hit job."
Also in June, Justice and Carter Bank announced a settlement ending a long legal battle. Carter Bank was attempting to collect on more than $300 million worth of loans personally guaranteed by Justice. The Greenbrier itself also has been the subject of several tax liens.