West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is in a struggle to maintain his iconic Greenbrier resort.
A authorized discover saying a public public sale for the luxurious resort close to White Sulphur Springs as a consequence of unpaid money owed was publicized within the West Virginia Every day Information Wednesday — solely the newest improvement within the Justice household’s monetary woes.
Justice, who owns dozens of corporations and whose internet value was estimated by Forbes Journal to be $513 million in 2021, has been accused in quite a few courtroom claims of being late in paying tens of millions of {dollars} he owes in money owed for household companies and fines for unsafe working situations at his coal mines.
He started serving the primary of his two phrases as governor in 2017, after shopping for The Greenbrier, which has hosted U.S. presidents and royalty, out of chapter in 2009. The PGA Tour held a match on the resort from 2010 till 2019.
His household additionally owns The Greenbrier Sporting Membership, a personal luxurious neighborhood with a members-only “resort within a resort.” That property was scheduled to be auctioned off this yr in an try by Carter Financial institution & Belief of Martinsville, Virginia, to get well greater than $300 million in enterprise loans defaulted by the governor’s household, however a courtroom battle between the Justice household and the financial institution delayed that course of.
Wednesday’s discover mentioned the public sale includes 60.5 acres — together with the resort itself and the adjoining car parking zone — and is scheduled for August 27 at 2 p.m. on the Greenbrier County Courthouse in Lewisburg.
A spokesperson for Justice mentioned the upcoming public sale shouldn’t be a state authorities matter and the governor’s workplace wouldn’t remark. Marketing campaign workers didn’t return an e mail from The Related Press Thursday.
In an announcement to West Virginia MetroNews, Justice lawyer Bob Wolford accused lender JPMorgan Chase Financial institution of aligning with the Democrats “to undermine the next Republican Senator from West Virginia.”
The assertion mentioned that the Justice household initially secured a $142 million mortgage in 2014 from JPMorgan Chase and that solely $9.4 million in debt stays after funds made as not too long ago as June of this yr. On July 1, the governor was notified by JPMorgan Chase that it had bought Justice’s mortgage to Beltway Capital Administration, which declared it to be in default.
A U.S. Senate monetary disclosure report filed by Justice on July 13 — after the mortgage was bought to Beltway — recognized The Greenbrier debt to be between $25 million and $50 million.
“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 informed MetroNews.
West Virginia Democratic Celebration officers mentioned in an announcement that the resort’s foreclosures shouldn’t be the results of a political stunt, because the Justice household’s lawyer contends. A
“It is a direct consequence of his own financial incompetence,” they mentioned.
JP Morgan Chase declined to remark.
