(Photo by Chris Jackson/West Virginia Watch)
TRT Holdings, Omni Hotels have denied the claims, saying they deflect from the Justices’ repeated failure to pay what they owe
By Caity Coyne and Lori Kersey for West Virginia Watch
As the future of The Greenbrier resort remains uncertain, attorneys for U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-WV, filed an amended complaint in Greenbrier County Circuit Court on Thursday alleging that TRT Holdings orchestrated a conspiracy to “snatch” the property from the Justice family.
The Greenbrier Resort has been owned by the Justice family since 2009, when Jim Justice bought it out from under bankruptcy. Over the last several years, financial challenges related to the property have mounted for the Justices, who have owed millions in loan repayments as well as taxes on The Greenbrier and several other nearby properties.
In the amended complaint filed Wednesday, the Justices allege that Texas-based TRT Holdings conspired with Carter Bank to stop the Justices from making payments on their loans. Carter Bank & Trust was a major lender for the Justices when they bought The Greenbrier. In recent years, the relationship between the family and the bank has become fraught, as the bank claims that numerous loan and interest payments have gone unpaid.
Per the amended complaint, TRT – the parent company of the Omni Hotels & Resorts chain, which owns The Homestead Resort about 40 miles away from The Greenbrier – and Carter Bank violated anti-trust laws and used confidential information to sabotage refinancing efforts and force the Justices to default on the loan.
This was done, the complaint alleges, to eliminate competition between The Greenbrier and the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia. In doing so, according to the complaint, hundreds of Greenbrier County jobs could be at risk.
Steve Ruby, an attorney for the Justice family, detailed the amended complaint to reporters Wednesday afternoon during a virtual news conference. In the complaint, the Justice family alleges that TRT acquired the debt in September 2024, and that the Justice family only learned about it by reading a Dallas Morning News article last week, something Ruby called “incredible.”
The debt came with a restriction that prohibited the company that holds it from buying any other debt of The Greenbrier without written permission from the resort, “which is exactly what TRT did last month with no consent from The Greenbrier,” Ruby said.
The Greenbrier employs 2,000 people during peak season and is the county’s largest employee and the region’s largest tourist attraction.
In the complaint, the Justice family alleges that Carter Bank prevented the family from repaying its loan and TRT conspired to sell them to White Sulphur Springs Holding, Inc., a subsidiary of TRT.
In a statement to West Virginia MetroNews Thursday, TRT Holdings said that the Justices’ latest allegations are false and an attempt to deflect from the family’s failure to pay outstanding debt.
“Any claim that White Sulphur Springs Holdings, LLC (WSSH) was not legally allowed to purchase the debt is without merit,” the company wrote. “The facts are clear and well documented. The acquisition was conducted in full compliance with all applicable laws and agreements and WSSH and its affiliates have met all obligations under the debt agreements.”
In the past 30 days, TRT wrote, the company has sent the Justice family wire instructions to settle the debt, and they have failed to remit payment.
“It is time for Senator Justice to pay his debt or place The Greenbrier into the hands of someone with a long track record of caring for iconic resorts and the communities they support,” the company wrote.
The Justice family’s complaint alleges TRT sending a default notice and filing a “baseless lawsuit” has disrupted the family’s ability to operate the business and pay employees, casting a cloud over the resort that has resulted in falling reservation rates and “lasting damage.”
“What TRT has done is placed an enormous strain on The Greenbrier and the Justice family’s other businesses,” Ruby told reporters. “It’s damaged their reputation. It’s damaged their relationships with their business partners.
“It’s hard to put a precise value, as we sit here today, on the amount of those damages, but the Justice family estimates that they are at least $500 million,” he said. Anti-trust violations carry triple damages, he said.
In the complaint, the Justice family says it has gained information that TRT intends to take over The Greenbrier resort and operate the resort with employees from the Homestead.
“That would put the jobs of hundreds of West Virginians who work at the Greenbrier at risk,” Ruby said. “There are lots of West Virginia families – and those of you who have been to the Greenbrier know this – lots of West Virginia families who have worked at the Greenbrier for generations. It’s not fair, and it’s not right for them to have their jobs placed at risk.”
In its statement, TRT said that claims about potential harm or job loss are “false.”
“Should WSSH or Omni Hotels Corporation become involved in the operation of the hotel, they would be fully committed to the employees, vendor community and all stakeholders in The Greenbrier Resort, including fair treatment, competitive compensation and benefits, and honoring all obligations including contributions to employee benefit funds,” the company wrote.
The filings in Greenbrier County are separate from an ongoing federal case filed by WSSH against the Justices in April. The holdings company – which secretly scooped up about $300 million in debt on the property – made a motion in federal court on Apr. 9 requesting to put the hotel in receivership. WSSH also sought a permanent injunction to stop the Justice family from further interfering with the property or its finances. If put into receivership, a third-party would be assigned to manage the property and its related assets.
Just three days after the federal motion was filed, the Justices filed their own suit in Greenbrier County Circuit Court against TRT Holdings and Omni owners Robert and Blake Rowling. Sen. Justice called the allegations made by WSSH in federal court a “sham” and motioned for a stay in that case on Apr. 16.
The future has been uncertain for The Greenbrier since at least 2024. That March, the West Virginia Tax Department filed seven liens worth more than $3.5 million against the Justice-owned Greenbrier Hotel Corp. due to unpaid sales taxes at the hotel and related properties. Jim Justice, who was serving his last year as the state’s governor at the time, repeatedly said he was unaware of any issues at the resort, which was being run by his daughter, Jill Justice.
In August 2024, the finances of the beloved resort became even more dire. On Aug. 1, a legal advertisement was posted in the Lewisburg-based West Virginia Daily News stating that The Greenbrier resort would be going to public auction later that month due to the Justices defaulting on millions in loans. The loan, initially held by JPMorgan, was sold to Beltway Capital, which declared it to be in default due to nonpayment.
Justice, who was running what would become a successful campaign for U.S. Senate at the time, chalked the move to foreclose on the resort up to politics. He said it was a conspiracy and attack by Democrats who did not want to see him elected to federal office.
Less than a week before the auction was slated to occur, the Justice family reached an agreement with Beltway Capital to make unspecified payments on the loan that would stop the foreclosure. There were few details available at the time regarding how much would be paid – about $9 million was still owed – and over what timeframe.
In November 2025, federal attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against Jim and Cathy Justice seeking to collect more than $5.1 million in unpaid federal income taxes that dated back to the 2009 purchase of The Greenbrier. The Justices quickly filed a motion agreeing to make those payments, along with any other accrued costs and interest.
For residents who live near The Greenbrier, the uncertainty surrounding the region’s largest employer and tourist attraction has caused unease. In August 2024, residents didn’t feel hopeful after the public auction for the hotel was canceled. Instead, they wondered what the next challenge for the property and its owners would be.
While they said they’d like to see the resort operated locally, it was just as important to have “good solid ownership.”
On Wednesday, Ruby said he didn’t believe anyone would benefit if operations for The Greenbrier Resort were taken over by an out-of-state entity like Omni.
“I think there’s a lot of value personally – and I think a lot of people in West Virginia agree with this – in having local ownership, local control, having local businesses be owned and operated by people who live in the community and see their neighbors every day, and (who) understand the needs of the community,” Ruby said. “I think it’d be a real shame for Greenbrier County if that were lost and particularly if a West Virginian treasure like the Greenbrier becomes part of a giant out-of-state chain like Omni.”
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
