Attorneys for the federal government went after Senator Jim Justice and his wife Cathy in court over a multi-million dollar income tax debt, and in short order the Justices agreed to pay it.
U.S. attorneys with the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in the district court for the Southern District of West Virginia for income taxes amounting to more than $5 million.
The Thanksgiving week filing was made at the request of the chief counsel of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
The filing refers to tax liabilities dating back to 2009.
The filing contended that although the Justices had received notice and demand for the payment, “Defendants James C. Justice, II, and Cathy L. Justice have neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments to the United States.”
Later in the day, the Justices and U.S. attorneys filed a joint motion “in favor of the United States and against James C. Justice, II, and Cathy L. Justice.”
The mutual agreement holds the Justices responsible for “unpaid federal income tax liabilities for tax year 2009, in the amount of $5,164,739.75 as of August 4, 2025, plus statutory interest and other additions to tax accruing thereafter according to law until paid in full.”
The Justices were represented in the filing by Charleston attorney Steve Ruby, who has often worked on behalf of the family in financial conflicts in the court system.
Last month, the IRS filed two liens on claims of unpaid taxes by Jim and Cathy Justice adding up to more than $8 million.
The liens were filed by the IRS Oct. 2 with the Greenbrier County Clerk. The full amount claimed by the IRS across two filings is $8,053,554.37, and the sums go back to 2009.
Notably, 2009 was the year that Jim Justice sold the family coal company, Bluestone Coal, to the Russian company Mechel for about $436 million in cash and stock.
Justice addressed the liens last month when asked about them in an online briefing with West Virginia reporters.
He alluded to that key 2009 date and described a tax inquiry that focused on his finances since then, noting that his family’s business network is broad and interwoven.
“I mean, our businesses are complicated — complicated and complex. There’s lots and lots,” Justice said.
“But, in that, from time to time you’ve got disputes. This goes all the way back to, believe it or not, 2009. In 2009, out of the clear blue sky and everything, we sold Bluestone to the Russians and we sold it for a lot of money and everything, and they said we’re going to audit you. Well, they did, they audited us and that’s great.”
Justice, a Republican who was elected last year to the Senate, attributed the financial pressure to political motives. And he said, at the time, that the IRS would wind up paying him.
He was trying to say the review by the IRS gained momentum under the Biden administration. However, it was the Trump administration’s Department of Justice that filed Monday’s $5 million complaint.
“When all this is said and done, I will promise you to God above that what will happen is we will — Jim will — end up with significantly more dollars from the IRS than what we owe the IRS,” Justice said last month.
“It’s just a situation we’ve got to go through. It’s more of a political move, but at the same time, it’s just a situation that big companies deal with all the time. You saw all the stuff that President Trump dealt with. At the end of the day, I’d say, just let it be and see how it all plays out.”