By Mike Tony
Charleston Gazette-Mail
A Louisiana-based bank says a key company in the family business empire of Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., owes it a debt that has ballooned to more than $47 million and is growing by more than $20,000 a day.
The Justice family-controlled Greenbrier Hotel Corp. owed First Guaranty Bank roughly $47.7 million and counting as of last week, according to a federal court filing from the bank.
First Guaranty said in the filing the White Sulphur Springs-based company has persisted in not paying what it owes in principal and accrued interest, late charges and other expenses that have accrued from a
loan made from the bank to the company under a lending program established through the CARES Act.
The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act is an economic stimulus law passed by
Congress in 2020 to provide direct assistance to families, workers, small businesses and industries amid the pandemic.
The bank said it made a $35 million loan in December 2020 under the Federal Reserve-established Main
Street Lending Program to support lending to small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits through a bank branch in Denham Springs, Louisiana. The loan first became delinquent in December 2023, according to the bank.
First Guaranty sued the bank to open the unresolved case in July 2024. In its Dec. 30 filing, the bank said the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. owed about $35.3 million in principal debt, accrued interest of $12.2 million, attorney fees and costs of $122,507 and accrued late charges of $4,500, with interest accruing on unpaid principal debt at a default rate of 21% per year or $20,626 per day.
See the rest of the story at the Charleston Gazette-Mail