Documents filed by the Internal Revenue Service show that The Greenbrier Hotel Corp. has been released from two liens adding up to almost $1.5 million for payroll taxes that had been previously unpaid.
Clearing up that debt would relieve the businesses owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family of one aspect of ongoing financial peril.
On Monday, the Greenbrier County Clerk’s office filed certificates of release on a lien of $1,076,983 and another of $395,722.
The paperwork indicates the IRS actually processed the payments July 28.
There does not yet appear to be a similar release on a lien relating to $80,000 in employment taxes at The Greenbrier Clinic.
The liens were filed earlier this year, representing unpaid payroll taxes from 2018.
The IRS specifies that its process includes earlier notice and demands for payment before a lien is filed. The documents filed by the IRS notes that it represents the federal government’s ability to collect on property and rights to property.
In some cases, nonpayment of payroll taxes can escalate into criminal charges if federal officials determine there was willful intent. “When employers willfully fail to collect, account for and deposit with the IRS employment tax due, they are stealing from their employees and ultimately, the United States Treasury,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Greenbrier Hotel Corp., representing the corporate entity that runs the historic resort in White Sulphur Springs, lists members of Governor Justice’s family as its top officers. The governor’s daughter, Jill, is the president. Jay Justice, the governor’s son, is a director. The secretary is Stephen Ball, an in-house attorney for the Justice companies.
Despite the liens on the Greenbrier Hotel Corp., Governor Justice last month characterized the resort as thriving.
“From the standpoint of The Greenbrier and the folks at The Greenbrier, you know we’ve got nearly 2,000 employees there. Those folks are doing great. And the amount of business that’s going on there, I’ve been reported that it’s doing well,” he said. “There’s no point in me elaborating whatsoever.”
When Justice was asked earlier if he could explain the dispute with the IRS, he objected to the question.
“I’m super respectful and I try to answer any question,” Justice said during a briefing July 27. “I’ve told everyone that if you’ll tend to the business of the state of West Virginia as I’m tending to the business of the state and you’ll just stay out of my family’s personal stuff you’ll find the final outcomes will be exactly what I’ve told you they’ll be. They’ll be worked out.”
The governor continued, “From the standpoint of legality and everything else, you can continue to run down ratholes and try to come up with stuff here and there, but at the end of the day I hope and pray, at least, that you’ll report the final outcomes.”
The IRS has filed yet another lien earlier this year for more than $8 million in longstanding, unpaid taxes against Jill Justice Long, the governor’s daughter.
Most of the total amount owed, $6.5 million, dates back to 2009. That is the year the Russian company Mechel bought the Justice family’s coal operations, Bluestone Coal Corp., for $436 million in cash and 83.3 million Mechel preferred shares.
Early this month, a partial release of that lien — amounting to $131,006.23 — was filed in Greenbrier County. “However, the lien remains in effect for all other property, or the rights to property, to which the lien is attached,” according to that document.
Justice’s businesses and public persona have been intertwined for many years.
To much acclaim, Justice’s family purchased the iconic Greenbrier out of bankruptcy in 2009. “I knew I just couldn’t mess this up,” Jim Justice told The Washington Post in a story that ran two years after the purchase. “I mean, the employees know where I live.”
Justice successfully ran for governor in 2016 by characterizing himself as a successful businessman who could translate that experience. Forbes had named him as the state’s only billionaire, a title that was retracted this year over the financial troubles with the international financial services company Greensill.
A month into his first term, Justice issued a letter to state employees saying he was pursuing a blind trust for his many businesses, but described his holdings his as too complicated to move quickly.
“Being Governor is a full-time responsibility,” Justice wrote. “I want to put all of my assets in a blind trust, however, the process has been slowed down by the multitude of financial institutions that work with my family’s companies.”
So, instead, the governor has produced an annual financial disclosure form that includes more than 90 businesses.
The liens were aspects of wide-ranging and significant financial turmoil with the Justice business holdings.
The Justice companies and their longtime lender, Carter Bank & Trust, are in a dispute over millions of dollars. The Justice companies are suing Carter Bank in federal court for millions of dollars, saying the bank became unfairly restrictive over the years.
Carter Bank has filed claim on $58 million in defaults, personally guaranteed by Jim and Cathy Justice. Last week, lawyers for the bank said the Justice businesses have not been paying what’s owed on an additional $300 million in loans and are now considered to be in default.
Another financial company, Greensill, which supplied more than $700 million in loans to the Justice companies, filed bankruptcy March 8. The Justice companies have another federal suit against Greensill.
The Justice companies took out hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from Greensill Capital in 2018. Greensill packaged such loans and sold them to investment funds managed by Credit Suisse.
Credit Suisse is now pressing to recover lost investments and has has named Justice’s Bluestone Resources as one of three major borrowers from the Greensill funds.
Bluestone Resources, the coal company owned by the Justices, last week put out a statement signaling progress in talks with Credit Suisse over the millions of dollars in debt.
“We’re in this situation because primarily a bank that turned around and went bankrupt – and from all that they were a very, very bad actor — of which we had no knowledge in any way you can possibly have. There’s been other things that happened along the way that will get worked out just like they have in the past,” Justice said.
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IRS releases $1.5 million in liens against The Greenbrier Hotel Corp. - West Virginia MetroNews
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