West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is in a battle to maintain his iconic Greenbrier resort.
A authorized discover saying a public public sale for the posh resort close to White Sulphur Springs resulting from unpaid money owed was publicized within the West Virginia Every day Information Wednesday — solely the most recent 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 court docket 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 event on the resort from 2010 till 2019.
His household additionally owns The Greenbrier Sporting Membership, a non-public luxurious neighborhood with a members-only “resort inside a resort.” That property was scheduled to be auctioned off this 12 months in an try by Carter Financial institution & Belief of Martinsville, Virginia, to get better greater than $300 million in enterprise loans defaulted by the governor’s household, however a court docket battle between the Justice household and the financial institution delayed that course of.
Wednesday’s discover stated 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 stated the upcoming public sale shouldn’t be a state authorities matter and the governor’s workplace wouldn’t remark. Marketing campaign employees 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 subsequent Republican Senator from West Virginia.”
The assertion stated 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 12 months. On July 1, the governor was notified by JPMorgan Chase that it had offered 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 offered to Beltway — recognized The Greenbrier debt to be between $25 million and $50 million.
“Let me be clear that the Greenbrier is not going to be offered, and the Justice household will take all essential motion to make sure that there is not going to be any hostile influence on their possession of the Greenbrier or the Greenbrier’s operations and the flexibility of the Greenbrier to proceed to supply world class service for its visitors shall be uninterrupted,” Wolford instructed MetroNews.
West Virginia Democratic Occasion officers stated 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’s a direct consequence of his personal monetary incompetence,” they stated.
JP Morgan Chase declined to remark.
