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Justice’s Greenbrier Resort faces another defaulted loan

Governor silent on calls by Democratic Party to drop from U.S. Senate race

FILE - The Greenbrier Hotel, a five-star resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., is seen on Nov. 30, 1998. (AP Photo/Jon C. Hancock, File)

MORGANTOWN — As attorneys for West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s two adult children prepare to defend their motion in a local circuit court to keep the historic Greenbrier Resort from being auctioned off next week, a new bank is claiming the family defaulted on another loan.

And despite calls to drop out of the U.S. Senate race by the West Virginia Democratic Party over numerous news reports about the woes of his resort, Justice has remained silent.

Justice — the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., at the end of the year — has just over four months left in his second and final four-year term as governor of West Virginia. Justice faces former Democratic Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott in November.

The Justice-owned Greenbrier Resort is facing numerous financial hardships due to defaults on loans, the non-payment of taxes and unpaid health care contributions for its employees. As a result, the historic resort is set to be auctioned off on Tuesday, with employees losing their health care coverage the same day. So far, representatives of Justice’s companies have refused to comment.

In the latest loan issue, Louisiana-based First Guaranty Bank filed suit against the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. on July 17 over a $35 million loan from 2020. The Greenbrier was delinquent as of Dec, 22, 2023, and now is in default.

The loan, made through the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, partnered for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations to provide loans with five-year maturity rates. The loans had no payments due for the first year, only required payments on interest in the second year, then 15% of the loan amount in years three and four. By year five, the entire amount of the loan plus interest was due.

According to the court case, filed in the U.S. District Court for Middle District of Louisiana, Greenbrier Hotel Corp. owes more than $36.5 million, including accrued interest, late charges and expenses.

The First Guaranty Bank loan is not the only outstanding loan owed by the Justice family for the Greenbrier. Justice’s children, Jill and Jay Justice, filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday in Greenbrier County Circuit Court to block the auction of the Greenbrier next week due to a defaulted loan. A hearing in the matter is scheduled for Friday.

Maryland-based Beltway Capital Management and McCormick 101 LLC declared a loan transferred from JPMorgan Chase Bank in default last month after Justice was unable to pay the full amount by the June 28 maturity date, placing the resort in foreclosure. JPMorgan transferred what was left of a $142 million loan the elder Justice took out in 2014 on the Greenbrier to Beltway Capital/McCormick 101 on July 2.

Representatives of Justice’s companies claim the loan was paid down to $9.4 million, but Beltway Capital/McCormick 101 filed a separate court case July 18 in New York seeking $40.3 million plus interest and late charges accruing since July 15 from Justice, James C. Justice Companies Inc., Justice Holdings LLC, GSR LLC, Wintergreen Partners Inc. and the Greenbrier Hotel Corp.

In another matter affecting the Greenbrier, attorneys for the Amalgamated National Health Fund claim the Greenbrier is behind on its health plan contributions to the tune of $2.4 million, plus another $1.2 million if not paid by Tuesday’s deadline. The delinquent amount includes employee contributions for 400 union employees of the resort that were deducted from paychecks by the Greenbrier but not remitted to Amalgamated National Health Fund.

“These employees lived up to their end of the bargain; (Justice) has not,” Elliott said in a social media post Tuesday. “He has instead diverted $2.4 million of their hard-earned money to satisfy other obligations he has been failing to meet. It’s all about what’s best for Jim. Does anyone doubt that his own family’s health insurance premiums have been paid while he has placed the benefits of others in jeopardy?”

Justice also owes millions in back taxes to the state and county. According to tax records held by the Greenbrier County Clerk’s Office, Greenbrier Hotel Corp. owes more than $2.7 million in tax liens and penalties for unremitted consumer sales and use taxes and withholding taxes as of the end of July, as well as owed interest and penalties.

According to the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenbrier owes more than $1.6 million in unpaid property taxes from 2023, which are used to fund the Greenbrier County school systems and other county government services. The Justice family has until Oct. 31 to pay any outstanding property taxes on the Greenbrier, otherwise the remaining tax bill will be turned over to the State Auditor’s Office for collection and possible sale of the property.

Justice bought the Greenbrier in 2009 from rail company CSX. Since Justice first took office in 2017, Jill Justice runs the Greenbrier while her father serves as governor, though he is still listed as CEO.

According to past depositions, Jill Justice, a physician, is president of the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. and is only involved in the day-to-day of the resort and the Greenbrier Clinic, though she is listed as a director and/or officer in several of the 108 businesses listed in Gov. Justice’s most recent state financial disclosure report.

Delegate Mike Pushkin, the chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Justice to drop out of the race, citing the non-payment of employee health care contributions as a final straw and an embarrassment.

“It’s one thing to default on a bank loan or a tax obligation or even a fine from a regulatory agency,” said Pushkin, D-Kanawha. “It’s another thing altogether to fail to pay the health care premiums for your workers with money that isn’t even yours. Because of his negligence, hundreds of workers and their families may lose their health care coverage.

“The governor can’t blame this on politics; he can’t blame it on accounting error; he can’t blame it on anyone else but himself,” Pushkin continued. “His financial house of cards is falling down around him, making him a terminally compromised candidate. Under these circumstances, he can’t continue to seek election to the United States Senate. He has become a national embarrassment.”

“West Virginians simply cannot trust Jim Justice to look out for them in the Senate when he has so clearly lost the distinction between what’s his and what’s theirs,” Elliott said. “Fortunately, they have a chance to do something about it on November 5.”

A request for comment from Justice’s U.S. Senate campaign was not returned.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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