A company associated with Omni Resorts & Hotels contends Senator Jim Justice and his family are letting the paint chip on The Greenbrier Hotel while diverting money for purchases like private jets and helicopters.
Lawyers for an Omni affiliate entered new filings in federal court to try to tell a judge that the Justice family business network is diverting dollars from The Greenbrier Hotel and letting the historic property sag.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings is asking for receivership for the hotel in a legal action in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“WSSH has become aware of public reports that Defendants James C. Justice, II, Cathy L. Justice, and James C. Justice, III (the “Justice Defendants”) have misappropriated revenue from the Greenbrier Resort and diverted it to their other, unrelated businesses,” lawyers wrote in an amended emergency motion for a receiver.
“Furthermore, the Greenbrier Resort’s property has become rundown, prompting local community members to complain about Defendants’ failure to pay their local contractors, employees, and vendors, unkempt grounds, and peeling paint.”
Attorneys for White Sulphur Springs Holdings entered several revised filings on Friday, all highlighting a theme that the current ownership of The Greenbrier doesn’t do enough to maintain it and puts the property at risk.
The newly formed company, an affiliate of Texas-based TRT Holdings, bought nearly $300 million in first-lien debt on The Greenbrier and related properties from longtime lender Carter Bank & Trust, which has been in conflict with the Justices for years.
TRT Holdings is owned by Texas billionaire Robert Rowling, whose son Blake serves as the company’s president. Omni operates more than 50 luxury properties.
Justice and his family bought the historic Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs out of bankruptcy in 2009.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings claims the Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, run by the Justice family, has used the historic property as a source of funds for unrelated personal and business ventures, a practice they describe as “looting.”
“The Justice Defendants are not maintaining adequate reserves at the property level for GHC,” wrote lawyers for White Sulphur Springs Holdings in an amended complaint.
“Upon information and belief, since 2018, the Justice Defendants have diverted nearly all of the operating cash flow from the Greenbrier Resort, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, into their other ventures owned by the Justice Defendants, leaving far less than the standard recommended for capital expenditure reserves on hand for a resort operation of this size (i.e., at least 4% of revenue).”
The lawyers for White Sulphur Springs Holdings wrote that a 2025 appraisal of Greenbrier Hotel Corporation showed a total of roughly $67 million in capital expenditures from 2017 through 2024.
But review of the underlying financial records, wrote White Sulphur Springs Holdings, shows the actual capital expenditures were less than half of what the appraisal stated — “and actually included nearly $5 million the Justice Defendants used to purchase a helicopter and a private jet.”
“White Sulphur Springs Holdings wants the immediate appointment of a receiver to take full control of The Greenbrier. WSSH filed this action in an effort to protect the ongoing operations of the Greenbrier Resort,” lawyers for the holding company wrote in a memoradum.
“WSSH’s primary goal is to ensure the Greenbrier Resort can retain its outstanding and dedicated staff, honor existing commitments to its guests and contractual counterparties, and preserve its status as the premier resort destination in West Virginia. Appointing a receiver to manage Defendants’ collateral assets is the best way to achieve that goal.”
TRT bought a portfolio of millions of dollars in past-due loans from Carter Bank in late March.
That yielded the rights to a 14th forbearance agreement that the Justice family signed, representing a contract between a lender and a borrower in default, where the lender temporarily pauses or reduces payments and delays legal action like foreclosure or repossession to allow the borrower to resolve financial hardship.
One of the allegations is that the Justices fell out of compliance with their obligations in a variety of ways, including failing to provide “complete visibility into the status of refinancing efforts through Raymond James & Associates and Goldman Sachs.”
On April 6, a high-profile meeting of Jim Justice, Robert and Blake Rowling and others occurred at The Greenbrier to explore possibilities for cooperation. In the amended complaint, lawyers for White Sulphur Springs Holdings described that as a failed attempt to reach an amicable solution.
“At that meeting, the Senator and his counsel threatened WSSH if it continued collection efforts, informing WSSH that the Justice Defendants had influence over or appointed all the state court judges in West Virginia and that WSSH could not get a fair trial in West Virginia,” wrote the lawyers for the holding company in the latest complaint.
“But the Justice Defendants’ blatant disregard for the Greenbrier Resort — including the physical property, employees, and vendor relationships — forced WSSH to turn to the Court despite these threats.”