Senator Jim Justice (R-WV) has agreed to pay over $5 million to resolve a tax debt that has been outstanding since 2009. This settlement comes after the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in federal court in Beckley, West Virginia, on August 4, 2023, claiming that Justice and his wife, Cathy Justice, owed a total of $5,164,739.75 in federal income taxes, penalties, and interest.
The DOJ’s complaint stated that the Justices had “neglected or refused to make full payment” despite receiving prior notifications from the Treasury Department. Following the filing, both the Justice family and the DOJ jointly filed a motion agreeing to pay the outstanding amount, thus moving towards resolving the long-standing tax issue.
Jim Justice, who was the governor of West Virginia from 2017 until his election to the Senate in 2022, has a complex financial history tied to his family’s coal mining and agriculture business. At one point, he was regarded as a billionaire after selling the Bluestone Coal Corporation in 2009 for $436 million in cash and additional shares to the Russian company Mechel. Justice later described the conditions of the business post-sale as a “god-awful mess.”
In a surprising turn of events, Justice repurchased the Bluestone Coal Corporation from Mechel in 2015 for a mere $5 million. Since then, he has faced multiple lawsuits related to unpaid mining fees, fines for safety violations, and withheld royalty payments to a subsidiary of Mechel, known as Caroleng Investments.
In June 2022, a federal judge in Delaware ordered Justice to divest six of his family-owned companies to address a $10 million debt owed to Caroleng. The same financial pressures led to the seizure and sale of a helicopter owned by another firm linked to the senator.
The recent tax settlement underscores the financial scrutiny surrounding Justice, as he navigates the responsibilities of his political office alongside his complex business dealings. The resolution of this tax dispute may provide some relief as he continues his tenure in the Senate, where he has also garnered attention for his English bulldog, Babydog, who has become a notable presence in Washington, D.C.
