The U.S. Department of Justice came to collect $5,164,739.75 after Jim and Cathy Justice ‘neglected or refused to make full payment’
By Amelia Ferrell Knisely for West Virginia Watch
West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice and his wife Cathy Justice immediately settled a new lawsuit seeking more than $5.1 million in unpaid federal income taxes spanning 15 years.
U.S. attorneys with the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint Monday seeking to collect the unpaid liabilities dating back to 2009.
The filing in the district court for the Southern District of West Virginia said that both husband and wife had received notices about the unpaid amount, and, “Defendants James C. Justice, II, and Cathy L. Justice have neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments to the United States.”
A short time after the federal filing, the Justices filed a motion Monday agreeing to pay the $5,164,739.75 owed as of Aug. 4, 2025, along with the “other additions to tax accruing thereafter according to law until paid in full.”
Justice’s Senate office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Justice, a Republican, was easily elected to the U.S. Senate last year while financial obligations mounted. In 2023, he faced a potential garnishment of his governor’s salary to pay back loans related to purchased coal equipment.
Ahead of last year’s election, the state of West Virginia’s Tax Division placed a series of liens on The Greenbrier resort – which the Justice family operates – more than $4 million because of sales taxes that were collected but not remitted to the state, MetroNews reported.
In October, Politico reported that the Internal Revenue Service had filed a notice of a federal tax lien against Justice and his wife for more than $8 million in unpaid assessments for tax years 2009, 2017 and 2022.
Justice brushed off the financial issues, saying it was “politically motivated” and that the IRS owed him money. He connected the lien to his family’s coal business ties, saying they were complicated and complex.
Justice sold the family coal company, Bluestone Coal, to Russian-based Mechel in 2009 for about $436 million in cash and stock. Justice said his tax issues began in 2009 with audits by the IRS under the administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama.
“The timetable is running out on the claim that they have, that back in 2009 I should have paid a few dollars more than what I paid,” Justice said Oct. 23 in response to a question from reporter Steven Allen Adams with Ogden Newspapers. “What they just did is they said we’ll go back to 2009 and we’re going to assess your interest and penalties on that all the way through and that’s how they come to the ($8 million).”
Cathy Justice serves on the state school board after being appointed by her husband in 2024.
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.
