Jim Justice has filed a federally-mandated financial disclosure for his Senate run, revealing a mountain of assets — with many indicating they produce little or no income — and also a riptide of debt.
Two debts on the filing are promissory notes characterized as between $1 million and $5 million each to Bray Cary, the broadcaster and businessman who served as Justice’s senior adviser, as well as his Cary Foundation Inc. No explanation is provided for the notes, both issued August 31, 2021, shortly after Cary left the administration.
For many years, Justice was described as West Virginia’s only billionaire, but Forbes downgraded him after 2021 debt disputes. He declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate on April 27, facing Congressman Alex Mooney in the Republican Primary and aiming for incumbent Senator Joe Manchin in the General Election.
Mooney, who has millions of dollars in campaign support lined up from the hardcore Club for Growth, already submits required financial disclosures for his position in the House, submitting the most recent one May 25. Manchin, a Democrat, filed his most recent one May 15 for the 2022 financial year.
Justice took 151 days from the time he declared his campaign before finally filing the financial disclosure report. The submission finally went through 134 days after it was first due and took place on the first day a fine of $200 could kick in.
“Governor Jim Justice has created thousands of jobs and saved businesses, like The Greenbrier Resort, and kept companies open in tough economic times. He is a job creator, and his opponent is a self-serving career politician with decades in political office relying on the largest Never Trump group in the country to get him elected to the U.S. Senate,” stated Roman Stauffer, campaign manager for Jim Justice for U.S. Senate.
The DSCC campaign organization representing Democrats in Washington said it wanted to know three things from the release of Justice’s report: Who are any previously unnamed lenders or financers in Justice’s business dealings? Would the filings show any foreign investment in Justice’s financial structure? And is Justice’s personal wealth truly tied up in the businesses themselves?
Justice’s political persona has been as a businessman who can buzz the numbers. His report, like all others, leads with his earned income. In Justice’s case, that’s $250,000 annually as governor, although the report notes he has donated the base pay to the state Department of Education while still paying the income taxes.
Justice’s report also lists his $3,500 wages as basketball coach at Greenbrier East High School.
His list of assets stretches for 147 entries, ranging from checking accounts to the network of companies in his family-owned coal, timber and tourism operations.
The estimated value of the assets was between $37.5 million and more than $1.9 billion.
Yet many of the assets are listed as producing no or little income. The word “none” appears 276 times on the report, sometimes redundantly, to describe what type or amount of income they produce.
A checking account at Bank of Monroe is listed with $1,000 to $15,000. The contents of another checking account at People’s Bank is listed as “none.”
The report indicates Justice has more than $100,000 in People’s Bank stock, more than $50,000 in Caterpillar stock, more than $50,000 in HP stock, along with smaller amounts in other stock accounts.
Line after line lists assets in Justice’s network of family businesses, and many are identified as being of significant value. But the assessment on the filing is that many also do not produce income.
For example, Justice Receivable — one of the James C. Justice Companies, is listed as having value of more than $50 million. But its income is listed as “none.”
Likewise, Justice’s Southern Coal Receivable is listed with a value of more than $50 million but no income.
Virginia Fuel Investment, value over $50 million but no income. Bluestone Resources Investment, value over $50 million but no income. A&G Coal Investment, value over $50 million but income production of “none.”
The report also specifies major debts, with Justice reporting between $37.5 million and $108.1 million in liabilities between promissory notes and lines of credit between 2010 and 2023.
Justice’s companies face waves of financial disputes in court cases, with some now focused on how companies could ever collect. In an $18 million case involving Fivemile Energy Company of Kentucky, lawyers for the Justice businesses have objected that they lack the ability to pay, maintaining that economic headwinds over the past decade have whittled more than 100 coal and farming companies to just a dozen now actively operating.
Lawyers representing the Justice companies, in a federal court filing, noted that depositions by company representatives “painted a consistent portrait of a somewhat disorganized organization whose resources are stretched to the limit with respect to both finances and personnel. The cash that comes in is almost immediately transferred from those entities that have it to those that need it.”