West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice agrees to pay nearly $5.2 million in overdue personal taxes

Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia has agreed to pay nearly $5.2 million in overdue personal taxes, the latest saga for the former billionaire who has been followed by a trail of financial challenges going back well over a decade.

An attorney for Justice and his wife, Cathy, entered into a joint motion for consent judgment with the federal government Monday, the same day that the government filed a lawsuit saying that the couple "have neglected or refused to make full payment" for the income taxes dating to 2009. An attorney for the Justice Department's tax division signed off on the agreement.

Justice had a fortune estimated at $1.9 billion last decade by Forbes magazine, which stripped his billionaire title in 2021, when Justice's worth had dwindled to an estimated $513 million. Earlier this year, Forbes estimated that Justice's net worth had disintegrated to "less than zero" due to liabilities that far exceeded assets.

A spokesperson for Justice's office didn't immediate respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.

During a briefing with local media in October, Justice asserted that his companies "are complicated and complex" and that his children "are doing a magnificent job" running them. He then repeated past assertions that collection efforts against him were politically motivated, before concluding:. "At the end of the day, I'd say just let it be and see how it all plays out."

Justice, a former two-term Republican governor who owns dozens of businesses that include coal and agricultural operations, was elected last November to the Senate. He took over the seat vacated by the retiring Joe Manchin, a Democrat who became an independent in 2024 near the end of his second full term.

Justice still has other financial challenges to work out.

The Internal Revenue Service last month filed liens totaling more than $8 million against Justice and his wife on unpaid personal taxes. In September, state tax officials filed $1.4 million in liens against the Justice family's historic hotel, The Greenbrier, and the resort's Greenbrier Sporting Club, over unpaid sales taxes.

Last month, a foreclosure auction on several hundred lots owned by the Justice family at a resort community near Beckley was paused. The auction centered on a dispute between the Glade Springs Village Property Owners Association and Justice Holdings over unpaid fees. The state Supreme Court plans to review the case more closely.

In 2021, the IRS filed liens over $1.1 million in unpaid taxes on the Greenbrier Hotel and an additional $80,000 on the resort's medical clinic. Those debts were paid off later that year.