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It has been nearly impossible to keep up with all of the business issues that Gov. Jim Justice is having. And make no mistake: These are the governor's issues, not his adult children's issues.
Nearly every organizational chart for Justice-owned businesses continues to list him at the top of the pyramid or with a majority of control of the now 108 businesses that Justice lists on his 2024 financial disclosure report with the state Ethics Commission. And only eight of those businesses are in blind trusts, which takes the governor out of the management of those specific businesses.
Justice's daughter, Jill Justice, is the one in charge of the hospitality businesses, such as the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. Justice's son, Jay Justice, is in charge of the coal and agriculture businesses. Justice likes to say his children run the day-to-day operations of his businesses while he focuses exclusively on being governor.
"I'm involved this much in my family's businesses," Justice said at a 2019 event in Beckley, putting his index finger a half an inch from his thumb to denote how little he is involved.
But that statement and similar statements over the years don't square up with the evidence, even in that 2019 event early in Justice's re-election effort for governor. Speaking to that audience, Justice talked about being involved with a decision to purchase a coal cleaning facility in Wyoming County.
"Not only am I your governor, but if I can help just a little bit, especially in an area where I grew up and we can bring back 500 more jobs in West Virginia, I want to do that," Justice said.
Just take a look at the governor's U.S. Senate financial disclosure report, where you can see that Justice has multiple zero-interest on-demand lines of credit for several businesses. He may not be ordering a resupply of Post-It notes for the central office, but he can certainly call up these businesses at will to get cash for his and Babydog's next Wendy's meal.
In 2018, Gov. Justice and First Lady Cathy Justice made loan guarantees for more than $800 million for the now-defunct Greensill Capital for his business empire. Combine that with the more than $300 million in loan guarantees made over the years with Virginia-based Carter Bank and Trust with the bank's owner before he died and the bank remembered to be a bank, those two loan amounts are more than $1 billion.
Looking at Justice's U.S. Senate financial disclosure, the Justices only reported between $37 million and more than $113 million. The report allows candidates to post a range, with Justice only reporting "over $50 million" for his Carter Bank loan. The remaining Greensill loan debt doesn't even show up.
The Justice family came to a deal with the current holders of Greensill's debt to avoid having them go after the full amount. And the Justices came to a second deal with Carter Bank last month after the bank nearly put the Greenbrier Sporting Club up for auction.
But now, the Greenbrier Resort itself is on the literal auction block unless they can get the courts to halt the process. Justice had taken out more than $140 million from JPMorgan Chase Bank for the Greenbrier. But after years of amended loan agreements and missed payments, JPMorgan had enough. They sold the loan to a Maryland-based loan acquisition company at the beginning of July and that company declared the loan in default and foreclosed on the Greenbrier.
I've never been a fan of the narrative that Jim Justice saved the Greenbrier. The fact is that CSX, the prior owners, just were not good hotel managers and decided to offload the asset. Other national hotel chains were bidding on it and were interested. Justice merely put together a better bid package and he was flush with cash after selling his mines to the Russians.
Sure, it's fine that a native West Virginian bought the historic resort, but the resort had never been owned by a native West Virginian prior that I'm aware of, so I don't get the apprehension of major hoteliers, like the Marriott.
I've been to the Greenbrier many times (rarely booking a room) over the years, and I'll be there again later this month. Every time I go, I can point to issues, such as peeling wallpaper, water damage, etc. Guests have an added "historic resort" fee added to every purchase, but I question whether those fees are going to capital maintenance.
Now a U.S. Attorney in Virginia is seeking to hold Justice's companies in civil contempt for non-payment of mine safety penalties. Jay Justice and another company executive are already being held in civil contempt and subject to daily fines for non-payment of a judgment in a Kentucky federal court.
I am not a businessman. I don't have an LLC to my name. I cannot fathom trying to run an empire of 108 different LLCs, Inc's, or corps. I'm sure it's not easy, especially in the boom-or-bust cycle of coal. Justice brags about not declaring bankruptcy, but I don't see how one cannot declare bankruptcy with the issues that Justice's businesses have.
As my friend and West Virginia Watch reporter Caity Coyne said on social media, "If this isn't what operating paycheck-to-paycheck looks like (as opposed to the financial health Justice repeatedly claims) then I don't know what does."