PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release August 14, 2026
Justice Financial Chaos Threatens Greenbrier Workers as Capito Looks the Other Way
Democrats Say 90 Workers Shouldn't Pay the Price for Justice Family's Financial Mismanagement; Demand Equal Enforcement of Federal Tax Laws
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Democratic Party today blasted U.S. Senator Jim Justice and his family for financial mismanagement that now threatens the jobs of 90 Greenbrier casino employees, while calling on U.S. Attorney Moore Capito to explain why repeated failures by Justice businesses to pay taxes have not resulted in the kind of aggressive federal scrutiny and prosecution brought against other West Virginia business owners.
The Justice family has announced plans to close The Casino Club at The Greenbrier and lay off approximately 90 employees amid an ongoing dispute surrounding a roughly $500 million refinancing deal.
At the same time, the Justice family's tax problems continue to mount. The IRS this week filed new federal tax liens totaling more than $8 million against The Greenbrier's ownership group related to unpaid payroll taxes. The liens cover payroll-tax obligations, including federal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from employees' paychecks, along with the employer's matching share.
The IRS filings list unpaid balances of approximately $4.92 million for the tax period ending December 31, 2025, and $3.08 million for the period ending March 31, 2026.
Source: WV MetroNews — IRS files $8 million in liens related to payroll taxes against The Greenbrier
"For years, Jim Justice has operated his businesses as if paying his bills and paying his taxes were optional, and now 90 working West Virginians and their families are being asked to pay the price," said West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin. "These employees went to work, did their jobs, and helped make The Greenbrier one of West Virginia's most recognizable institutions. They shouldn't become collateral damage because the Justice family's financial house is in chaos."
The latest liens aren't an isolated event. The Justice family businesses have repeatedly faced state and federal tax liens. In 2025, the West Virginia Tax Division filed more than $1.3 million in liens involving sales taxes against The Greenbrier Hotel and Sporting Club. Those taxes included money collected from customers that businesses are required to remit to the state.
Pushkin said the pattern raises a basic question about equal enforcement of the law.
"If a tavern owner on Capitol Street in Charleston had done what Jim Justice and his businesses have repeatedly done, I have no doubt they'd be facing serious charges," Pushkin said. "But when it comes to Jim Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office appears to look the other way. Working people have taxes taken out of every paycheck, and small-business owners know there are consequences if they collect taxes and don't send that money to the government. Jim Justice shouldn't live under a different set of rules just because he's a wealthy and powerful United States senator."
Federal Prosecutors Have Sent West Virginia Business Owners to Prison for Far Less
The contrast with other cases prosecuted in the Southern District of West Virginia is striking.
Federal prosecutors in Southern West Virginia have pursued business owners for failing to remit employment taxes involving approximately $150,000, $394,000, $525,000 and $630,000 — a fraction of the more than $8 million covered by the latest Greenbrier liens.
Charleston — approximately $150,000
Charleston businessman Luther A. Hanson pleaded guilty to willfully failing to pay over employment taxes. Hanson admitted that he intentionally failed to withhold or pay employment taxes to the IRS for employees of his accounting businesses. He was ultimately ordered to pay $146,771.37 in restitution and a $5,000 fine.
In a particularly notable contrast, Moore Capito's own U.S. Attorney's Office highlighted Hanson's tax prosecution in February 2026 as part of a news release touting the office's collection of millions of dollars in criminal and civil cases.
Fayette County — approximately $394,000
In 2017, Montgomery business owner Steve Lopez pleaded guilty to failing to pay employment taxes. According to the Justice Department, Lopez was responsible for collecting Social Security, Medicare and income taxes withheld from employees' wages but admitted that he failed to pay approximately $393,851 in employment taxes to the IRS, including money withheld directly from employees' paychecks.
Hurricane — approximately $525,000
In August 2025, Hurricane business owner Dean E. Dawson was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes.
According to the Justice Department, Dawson failed to send the IRS taxes withheld from his employees' paychecks between 2015 and 2022. Prosecutors also said Dawson used business accounts to pay personal expenses. The Justice Department calculated the total tax loss at approximately $525,000.
Charleston-based company — approximately $630,000
Federal prosecutors also pursued corporate executives Daniel Hovis and Janice Hensley after their company failed to remit approximately $630,159 in trust-fund employment taxes.
According to the Justice Department, the company withheld federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from employees' wages but failed to turn the money over to the IRS. Prosecutors said Hovis and Hensley instead used money that should have gone toward the tax obligations for personal expenses.
Both were sentenced to federal prison — Hovis to two years and Hensley to one year and eight months.
"Let's put these numbers side by side," Pushkin said. "Federal prosecutors in Southern West Virginia have pursued business owners over unpaid employment taxes involving roughly $150,000, $394,000, $525,000 and $630,000. People have gone to federal prison. Now the IRS has filed more than $8 million in new payroll-tax liens against The Greenbrier. West Virginians deserve to know: Where is Moore Capito?"
"Moore Capito's own office bragged just months ago about collecting restitution from a Charleston businessman prosecuted for failing to pay employment taxes," Pushkin continued. "So we know his office understands the seriousness of withholding taxes. We know federal prosecutors are willing to pursue ordinary West Virginia business owners. What West Virginians deserve to know is whether those same standards apply when the business is owned by the family of a United States senator."
"No one is asking Moore Capito to skip an investigation or ignore due process," Pushkin said. "We're asking him to apply the same standards. Investigate it. Follow the money. Determine what happened. And if the evidence establishes that federal tax laws were willfully violated, prosecute the case just like you would if the business owner didn't have 'United States Senator' in front of his name."
Sarah Umberger, Democratic candidate for House of Delegates District 46, said the casino employees are being used as leverage in the Justice family's financial problems.
"Senator Jim Justice has chosen to use his hard-working casino employees as bargaining chips in his desperate attempt to hold onto a property he owes hundreds of millions in unpaid bills.
"Rather than working on a smooth transition to procure the financing to repay his massive debt, Mr. Justice has spent months and months stalling and creating distractions, hoping that once again he will be granted yet another reprieve that working families can only dream of.
"Now, with only hours before what could be a final deadline, workers at the casino have been given notice that they will be laid off. This is not the behavior of someone who respects the people who keep his luxury resort running to the standards that few Greenbrier County residents can afford.
"The workers of Greenbrier County deserve better."
Sarah Morris, Democratic candidate for House of Delegates District 47, said the consequences extend well beyond the resort itself.
"90 employees and their families should not be used as leverage in a financial dispute. The Greenbrier is an economic anchor for this county, and its workforce extends far beyond the district where the resort sits. Many of my constituents drive there every day to earn a living.
"The Justice family may be fighting over a $500 million refinancing deal, but the 90 employees whose jobs they've put on the line don't have that luxury. Working families should never be bargaining chips in someone else's financial negotiations.
"These workers and their families deserve answers, stability, and transparency — not a 60-day notice that their jobs may disappear."
Pushkin said the latest developments at The Greenbrier are part of a much larger pattern involving Justice's business empire.
"This isn't one late payment or one business dispute," Pushkin said. "For years we've watched the same cycle: bills aren't paid, taxes aren't paid, creditors go to court, liens are filed and Jim Justice asks for more time. The people who ultimately suffer aren't billionaires and bankers — they're workers, small businesses, vendors and communities that depend on these companies."
The Greenbrier's history of payroll-tax problems also predates the latest liens. In 2021, IRS records showed that The Greenbrier Hotel Corporation had faced approximately $1.5 million in liens for previously unpaid payroll taxes from 2018, which were later released after payment.
Source: WV MetroNews — IRS releases $1.5 million in liens against The Greenbrier Hotel Corp.
"When a business withholds money from an employee's paycheck for taxes, that money isn't the business owner's personal line of credit," Pushkin said. "Federal prosecutors understand that perfectly well when the defendant is a business owner in Charleston, Montgomery or Hurricane. The question is whether those same rules apply when the business belongs to the family of a politically powerful United States senator."
The West Virginia Democratic Party called on Capito and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to publicly explain whether Justice's repeated tax problems have been referred for investigation and to assure West Virginians that political connections will play no role in federal tax enforcement.
"Moore Capito has a simple obligation: enforce the law equally," Pushkin said. "His job isn't to protect powerful politicians or powerful families. His job is to enforce federal law without fear or favor. His own office points to employment-tax prosecutions as evidence that it's doing its job. If $150,000 deserves federal prosecution and $525,000 can put a West Virginia businessman in federal prison, then more than $8 million in new Greenbrier payroll-tax liens deserves serious scrutiny."
"Justice isn't just another businessman anymore. He's a United States senator," Pushkin concluded. "That makes transparency and accountability more important, not less. There cannot be one justice system for politically connected millionaires and another for everybody else — and there certainly shouldn't be one where 90 working families lose their livelihoods while the people responsible for this financial mess keep getting another chance."
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