The Shadow
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.V. (VR) – The Internal Revenue Service has filed two federal tax liens totaling more than $3.6 million against businesses tied to U.S. Sen. Jim Justice and his family, adding to a growing list of financial and legal troubles surrounding The Greenbrier resort.
The liens, filed Thursday with the Greenbrier County Circuit Clerk, target the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. and the Greenbrier Clinic, the resort’s health center. The hotel corporation’s lien totals $3,334,736, while the clinic’s lien totals $289,893.
Each lien spans four separate tax assessment dates recorded between last summer and this past February. Federal officials say most of the unpaid amounts stem from federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes withheld from employee paychecks, along with unemployment compensation funding obligations.
“We have made a demand for payment of this liability, but it remains unpaid,” the IRS wrote in the filings.
Justice, a former West Virginia governor, purchased The Greenbrier in 2009. His daughter, Jill Justice, serves as president of the Greenbrier Hotel Corp., while his son, Jay Justice, is vice president, according to state corporate filings.
Steve Ruby, a Charleston, W.Va., attorney who represents the Justice family’s business interests, said in a statement provided through PLUS Communications that the IRS action was a “purely precautionary measure” that followed extensive talks between the resort and federal tax officials.
“The recent IRS action … is entirely consistent with the payment plan that The Greenbrier has communicated to the IRS,” Ruby said, adding that the debt “will be resolved shortly” as part of a financing deal the family is finalizing.
That financing arrangement involves roughly $500 million from Kennedy Lewis Investment Management LLC, a New York-based private credit firm founded in 2017 that specializes in distressed debt and event-driven investments.
The proposed deal is tied up in a federal court dispute between the Justice family and White Sulphur Springs Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Omni Hotels & Resorts. White Sulphur Springs Holdings sued earlier this year, seeking to have a receiver appointed to take control of Greenbrier operations away from the Justices after acquiring roughly $289 million in loans-turned-judgments tied to Justice business interests from Carter Bankshares Inc.
A federal judge has largely paused that case to give the Justice family time to complete the Kennedy Lewis financing, which the family has told the court it expects to close by mid-July.
Adding to the pressure, West Virginia’s State Tax Department has asked to intervene in the same federal case, saying it needs to protect roughly $4.4 million in state liens against the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. In a court filing last month, state attorneys said the Tax Division holds nine liens for unpaid consumer sales and use taxes totaling nearly $4 million, plus one lien of $455,070 for unremitted personal income tax withholding. State officials say the liens are needed to preserve the state’s legal priority for repayment should the federal case proceed toward a receivership or asset sale.
The new federal liens follow a long-running pattern of tax disputes involving Justice-controlled companies. In November, the federal government sued Justice and his wife, Cathy, over more than $5.1 million in unpaid personal federal income taxes. A court-approved settlement that same month required the couple to pay $5,164,739. That case followed IRS liens filed against the Justices personally in October, indicating more than $8 million owed across tax periods dating back to 2009.
The Greenbrier Hotel Corp. also drew scrutiny this week from West Virginia’s Lottery Commission, which placed the resort’s casino operation on “financial watch” just two days before the new IRS liens were filed. The commission renewed the casino’s gambling license at an emergency meeting on June 30, hours before it was set to expire, after Ruby said staff turnover had delayed required financial audits. An outside consultant told regulators that the company’s liabilities nearly tripled from about $90 million in 2024 to $260 million in 2025.
Separately, the Greenbrier Clinic is facing two federal class-action lawsuits filed this spring on behalf of patients who allege the clinic’s mammography testing failed to meet federal standards for more than two years. The clinic sent letters to more than 1,000 patients across the country, raising concerns about the accuracy of their results, and attorneys for the plaintiffs have asked a federal court to consolidate the cases into a single complaint.
Justice has previously suggested, without offering evidence, that legal and financial scrutiny of his businesses is politically motivated and tied to his time in office and his Senate candidacy.
Meanwhile, a separate legal fight continues over a $29 million judgment against Justice personally. A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has scheduled oral arguments for July 30 in Justice’s appeal of a Tennessee court ruling that found he owes surety bond provider Lexon Insurance Company more than $29 million stemming from coal company obligations he personally guaranteed while governor.
Ruby’s office has not responded to requests for comment regarding these issues.
