The Greenbrier Hotel, which is at the center for a battle of control between Senator Jim Justice’s family and the billionaire owners of the Omni hotel chain, also has state-issued sales tax liens coming and going.
The West Virginia Tax Division this month filed four liens amounting to $2.36 million against The Greenbrier. At the same time, the state tax division withdrew two other prior liens that added up to $771,347.
It’s two steps forward and four steps back on the liens for sales taxes, interest and penalties.
The West Virginia Tax Division has repeatedly filed liens against The Greenbrier for unpaid sales taxes that were collected from customers but not remitted to the state.
West Virginia sales taxes are required to be filed and remitted monthly, quarterly, or annually, depending on an assigned filing frequency.
The most recent lien actions actually applied to payment periods that occurred months ago, but the filings appeared with the Greenbrier Circuit Clerk this week.
The tax department filed to withdraw liens representing $297,069 and $474,278. Those liens originally were filed last August but represented payments that were due roughly this time last year.
Meanwhile, the tax department added four new liens:
$568,559 for sales taxes, penalties and interest on what was originally due last Oct. 31.
$599,838, adding up from what was originally due last Sept. 31.
$592,296 totaled from taxes originally due August 31 of last year.
And $602,501, adding up for what had been due July 31, 2025.
The ongoing sales tax issue is a point in a bigger federal court fight that has erupted between the Justice family, which bought the Greenbrier in 2009, and an Omni hotels affiliate that purchased almost $300 million on first-lien debt on The Greenbrier and associated properties last month.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings, a corporate cousin of Omni, filed for receivership of the resort in a federal case filed this month. The debtholders contend The Greenbrier, representing their collateral, needs a third-party caretaker to assure the resort’s value is preserved.
The federal court filings by White Sulphur Springs Holdings do cite the history of sales tax liens while making a broader case of significant financial delinquency, characterizing the pattern as evidence of “waste, fraud and abuse” by the resort’s current management.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings argues that the failure to meet the tax obligations risks additional liens being placed on the resort.
And the lawyers for White Sulphur Springs Holdings describe being ready to present evidence of unpaid taxes, potentially preparing to subpoena witnesses.
“Greenbrier Resort Defendants are failing to meet their tax obligations to government entities, including the State of West Virginia, risking liens being placed on The Greenbrier Resort,” wrote the attorneys for White Sulphur Springs Holdings in the federal receivership case.