Jim Justice, Former Billionaire And New U.S. Senator, Is Now Broke_Briefing_Bonus_112118-6786cdd48bf43862afc4e170_Jan_21_2025_16_00_14

Forbes

Running from $1 billion in debts and liabilities, Jim Justice may have constituents here and overseas who are more important to him than the people of West Virginia.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2025/01/10/this-former-billionaire-and-new-us-senator-is-now-broke/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, this former billionaire and new U.S. Senator is now broke.

00:08When West Virginia Governor James Conley Justice II finishes out his gubernatorial term in

00:13mid-January and reports to Washington, D.C. to be sworn into the United States Senate,

00:19he will become one of the nation's poorest senators.

00:23But how can that be?

00:24After all, for nearly a decade until 2021, Forbes figured Justice to be a billionaire,

00:29the richest man in the mountain state, thanks to a lifetime amassing a fortune in coal and

00:34real estate, with gems like the historic 710-room Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia's Allegheny

00:40Mountains, with its golf course that has hosted the annual Live Golf tournament.

00:46But a closer look at Justice's finances reveals that his empire is severely troubled.

00:52The Greenbrier, for example, is suffering from years of neglect and may now be worth

00:56less than half the $1 billion value Justice long claimed.

01:00Justice's coal companies, led by Bluestone Resources, still mine about 500,000 tons per

01:06year, but that is down from 2 million tons a decade ago.

01:11They likely generate $150 million in revenues and have an enterprise value less than $200

01:16million.

01:17Those are substantial assets, but Justice's liabilities are much greater.

01:23According to Forbes estimates, Jim Justice is in hock to the tune of more than $1 billion

01:29in the form of personally guaranteed bank loans, debt, court judgments, and environmental

01:34liabilities.

01:35By Forbes' reckoning, the new Republican senator from West Virginia has a net worth

01:40of less than zero.

01:42Justice's attorneys and spokespeople have not responded to Forbes' repeated requests

01:46for comment.

01:49Keeping an eye on every nickel is Justice's most concerned creditor, publicly traded Carter

01:54Bank shares of Martinsville, Virginia, a $4.6 billion-in-assets community bank known as

02:00quote, the home of lifetime free checking.

02:04Justice personally owes Carter some $375 million.

02:09The loans are secured by the first lien on the Greenbrier and many other assets.

02:14When Justice defaulted on his payments in early 2024, Carter announced that it would

02:18hold a public auction of the resort, only calling off the auction in late June after

02:23Justice promised to at least make $2 million in monthly interest payments.

02:28Carter is so concerned over Justice's debts that it has forced the liquidation of Collateral,

02:33including thousands of acres auctioned in Greenbrier and Monroe counties.

02:38Other creditors are also coming for West Virginia's 73-year-old freshman senator.

02:43Last January, Russia's Carolang Investments Limited, which is due $10 million in royalties

02:48on Justice's coal mines, won a court order to seize the Justice family helicopter, which

02:53they sold for $1.4 million.

02:56In June, a court ordered U.S. Marshals to help Carolang seize enough assets from Justice

03:01family coal companies to cover the rest.

03:04Then in October, distressed debt investors McCormick 101 and Beltway Capital of Maryland

03:10also announced an auction of the Greenbrier.

03:12To collect the remaining $20 million, they were owed of a $140 million promissory note

03:18on which Justice had defaulted.

03:20How could Justice, having bought the Greenbrier out of bankruptcy for $20 million in 2009,

03:25now be at risk of losing it?

03:28Because, over a long career of breaking contracts, defying court orders, slow-paying bills, and

03:34paying old loans with new ones, Justice has worn out every lender he has dealt with.

03:40In the Greenbrier case, $49 billion New York City private equity firm Fortress Investment

03:45Group bought the $20 million defaulted loan, which is junior to Carter's claims, and called

03:50off the resort's auction.

03:53Fortress was co-founded in 1998 by billionaires Wes Edens, Mike Novogratz, and others.

03:59In 2017, billionaire Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Vision Fund bought 90% of the Fortress for

04:05$3.3 billion.

04:08SoftBank sold the stake in 2023 for about $3 billion to Mubadala Investment, the $300

04:14billion sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, making this oil-rich Islamic

04:19monarchy one of Senator Justice's most important benefactors.

04:25Michael Pushkin, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and chair of the state

04:29Democratic Party, says, quote,

04:31He owes these folks something, and all of a sudden we find out they are foreign nationals?

04:36He's going to be beholden to these folks.

04:39For full coverage, check out Christopher Hellman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:45This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:47Thanks for tuning in.

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