Gov. Jim Justice Is Beloved in West Virginia. Just Not by His Creditors. - WSJ

[question everything]

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va.—Jim Justice is arguably West Virginia’s most popular politician and most prominent businessman. The dual feat is all the more impressive given how many people he owes money to.

A folksy native son, Justice rose to political power—he was elected governor in 2016—after assembling a sprawling collection of businesses, including coal companies, farms and even the storied Greenbrier resort. Now the 72-year-old is the favorite to succeed Joe Manchin as U.S. senator, a post that would elevate Justice to national prominence.

But the Justice empire is also well-known around the state for its unpaid bills. Justice, his family and his companies have piled up hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities to banks, coal companies and federal and state regulators, some of which the Justices are now disputing. At one point they even owed money to professional golfers Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson.

The issues have extended even to basic supplies at the Justices’ flagship property. The Greenbrier, a National Historic Landmark that the Justices bought out of bankruptcy in 2009, has been short on toiletries periodically because it hasn’t paid vendors on time. Housekeepers sometimes needed to hustle soap and shampoo from empty rooms to occupied ones, according to people familiar with the resort. The same thing happened with fresh linens.

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In October, a federal court ordered U.S. marshals to seize a helicopter owned by one of his companies to satisfy a debt to a unit of a Russian metals and mining company. Justice’s lawyers asked the court to hold off on the seizure because they said other creditors already had liens on the craft. On Jan. 17, a judge ordered the helicopter grounded and said it would have to be sold. Last week, a state court ruled against the Justices in a complicated dispute with Virginia’s Carter Bank & Trust over what the bank says is more than $300 million owed to it.
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