The auction for the Greenbrier Hotel, located in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., has been halted. The hotel is owned by Gov. Jim Justice and run by his family. (Getty Images)
With the auction of The Greenbrier Hotel averted , Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday that “all is good in the neighborhood” regarding the historic landmark despite numerous other issues seemingly still unresolved and other debts remaining unpaid.
The public auction was scheduled to happen Tuesday due to The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, which is owned by the Justice family, defaulting on millions of dollars in loans. That auction — as well as a public hearing that was scheduled for Friday regarding a preliminary injunction filed by the Justices to halt the sale — was canceled Thursday, according to a statement from Cam Huffman, director of public relations for The Greenbrier.
According to the brief statement, the Justice family on Thursday reached an agreement with Beltway Capital, which is associated with credit collection company McCormick 101 who bought the loan documents and deed of trust for the hotel from JPMorgan earlier this year.
Under that agreement, the family will make a payment to Beltway Capital by Oct. 24. If the payment is made, then “all issues concerning The Greenbrier and Glade Springs are concluded.”
The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation owes about $9.4 million on the loan, according to previous statements.
The statement Thursday did not specify how much money would be paid to Beltway Capital. It also did not say how the money that will be paid was obtained by the Justices, saying only that the family “has already secured this funding.”
In what can only be described as an odd news briefing considering the recent barrage of news regarding Justice and his family (more than seven minutes of it were dedicated to watching a billiards trick shot via video conferencing), Justice was also short on details for the situation.
When asked by reporters for clarification on how the family is paying for the outstanding loan and what the amount to be paid is, Justice said he could not discuss details of the agreement because he is “under confidentiality not to disclose.”
This is despite the governor repeating for years that he is not involved in the operations of any of his family’s businesses, leaving his children in charge of them instead.
“When it’s all said and done, what we’ve done is we’ve acquired these funds,” Justice said, not providing any more details as to how. “It’s going to cost our family a bunch of money.”
Justice, in what is becoming a weekly tradition, lamented political forces he believes were behind the move to put The Greenbrier up for auction and criticized reporters for asking questions regarding the governor’s business dealings as he runs for U.S. Senate.
“It’s taken care of and we move forward and The Greenbrier is as whole as it can possibly be and the Greenbrier is going to be in our family forevermore,” Justice said.
But the pending auction was just one of several issues that have risen in recent weeks related to the Justice family’s operation of the hotel.
Earlier this week , employees there were notified that their health insurance could be terminated on Aug. 27 if the company doesn’t pay at least $2.4 million in delinquent contributions to the Amalgamated National Health Fund for health premiums. The company, according to a letter from attorneys representing the Health Fund, has been taking money out of employees’ paychecks without remitting it to the fund for at least four months.
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During his briefing, Justice denied that there is any risk for employees covered by the hotel’s health care plan.
“I promise you with all in me that we will not miss one step in regards to people’s health insurance and we’ll move on down the road,” Justice said.
Also this week, it was reported that The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation defaulted on another loan that came from pandemic relief funds.
The company, according to the suit , borrowed $35 million from Louisiana-based First Guaranty Bancshares in 2020. To date, The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation has not paid an ything toward the loan despite payment being mandated to begin in 2021.
The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation in recent mo nths has also been subject to several liens from the state tax department — which is run by the Justice administration — due to unpaid sales taxes. The liens, according to MetroNews , totaled about $3.5 million. The debt comes from sales taxes that were collected from customers shopping at The Greenbrier but that were not paid to the state government as they’re required to be.
In a news release Thursday, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, who is running a Democratic campaign for governor, called on Attorney General Patrick Morrisey — the Republican gubernatorial candidate — to open an official investigation into the business dealings at The Greenbrier.
“This is a serious issue that not only violates the law but also betrays the public trust,” Williams said in the release.
His call for an investigation comes after the state Democratic Party demanded earlier this week that Justice drop out of the Senate race because of his business challenges. Justice is heavily favored to win the election for the seat currently held by Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. in November.
The issues with The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation are just a handful of the many challenges Justice’s family companies are facing recently.
The federal government asked a court earlier this month to hold 23 of the Justices’ coal companies — which, in addition to The Greenbrier, are some of the largest assets in the family’s business portfolio — in contempt for failure to pay a decade’s worth of mine health and safety fines.
In a memorandum filed on behalf of the Justice family this week, attorneys wrote that the companies were too broke to pay the nearly $600,000 that remains in delinquent fines.
“Unfortunately, the global coal market, extraneous business factors, and financial constraints constantly frustrate [the companies’] business activities and make their primary business — mining coal — almost impossible to do,” the memorandum reads. “Without active and significant mining operations, [the companies] are not financially viable, and this makes compliance with the payment terms an impossibility.”
Justice has remained steadfast in claims that these challenges — with The Greenbrier, the coal companies and more — are nothing more than “bumps.” He promised Thursday that things were being taken care of at the businesses.
Despite his various business dealings and the pervasive problems that have come with them, Justice has refused to place his businesses in a blind trust while serving as governor. He insists that his family — namely his children — are responsible for running the business empire while he holds office, however the governor still lists them as assets on mandated financial statements.
After winning his primary in May, Justice said he would “probably not” put his businesses in a blind trust were he sent to Washington D.C.
“My kids do a good job,” he said, but if they wanted to ask his advice on business decisions, he continued, he wanted to be able to give his input.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with quotes from Gov. Jim Justice from his Thursday afternoon administration brieifing.
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