Republican Senator Agrees To Pay $5.1 Million in Back Taxes After DOJ Sues

AP Photo/Chris Jackson

Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) and his wife agreed to pay the tax liabilities they owe dating back to 2009, Bloomberg Law reported on Monday.

The Department of Justice filed a complaint stating that the Senator and his wife Cathy Justice had received notice about the back taxes and demand for payment.

In 2009, the senator sold Bluestone Coal Corporation – his family business – to a Russian company called Mechel for approximately $436 million in cash. Six years later, Mechel sold it back to Justice for 99% less than what he had sold it for. Despite this incredible turn of events, a Forbes report published in January said Justice’s net worth is “less than zero” because his finances are “severely troubled” thanks to mountains of debt.

In a joint motion on Monday, the DOJ and the Justices said the Justices agreed to pay $5,164,739.75 they owed as of Aug. 4, 2025.

The IRS had placed liens of more than $8 million against the couple. Last year, a federal judge ordered Justice to sell six of his companies to help satisfy debt obligations.

“You also need to remember that the Russians – the Russians – bought Bluestone from our family, and then turned it into a god-awful mess you have ever seen in the world,” Justice said of Mechel’s ownership tenure of his business.

Jim Justice, 74, was elected to the Senate last year after serving as governor of West Virginia for eight years.

In 2016, NPR published the findings of its investigation into Justice, who was then running for governor. NPR found that his companies had failed to pay millions in mine safety penalties, leading the outlet to call Justice “the nation’s top mining safety delinquent.”

“In the past 16 months, while fines and taxes went unpaid, Justice personally contributed nearly $2.9 million in interest-free loans and in-kind contributions to his gubernatorial campaign, according to state campaign finance reports,” NPR reported at the time.

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