Governor and family cleared of wrongdoing
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CHARLESTON -- Gov. Jim Justice and his family have been cleared of wrongdoing in a probe launched last year by the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, the governor's personal attorney announced Tuesday morning.
"I'm pleased to announce that yesterday we were informed by career Justice Department prosecutors...that the investigation has concluded with no allegation of any wrongdoing whatsoever," George Terwilliger III, a former acting U.S. Attorney General under President George H. W. Bush, said in the Governor's Reception Room at the Capitol in Charleston.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when contacted.
In April, the Public Integrity Section issued subpoenas to the state Tax Department and the state Department of Commerce seeking records pertaining to The Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, formerly known as the Greenbrier Classic golf tournament, as well as Old White Charities, the non-profit that operates the tournament.
"Today is in fact an important day for our system to work," Terwilliger, said. "It's important that when someone is cleared of doing anything wrong, that gets just as much press attention and coverage as the fact that they're being investigated. The Justices are good people who strive to do the right things for the right reasons. They deserve to be free now of the cloud that this investigation had put over them."
The subpoenas sought records between 2014 and 2019 for all amenity agreements and communications from Justice, his son Jay Justice who runs the family's coal businesses, Jill Justice who runs the Greenbrier Resort, former Old White Charity Director Habibi Mamone and seven others.
Federal investigators also sought all contract exemptions filed with the state Ethics Commission regarding sponsorship of the tournament, as well as records regarding the appropriation and distributions of funds by the Department of Commerce and the Development Office to the Justice entities.
Jim Justice bought the Greenbrier Resort in 2009 from CSX. In 2010, Justice started the Greenbrier Classic golf tournament, which is part of the PGA Tour. Old White Charities is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and named for the Greenbrier's 18-hole golf course. The tournament was renamed A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier in 2018.
The Department of Commerce and the Development Office have been sponsors of the Greenbrier Classic since its inception. Under former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, commerce officials used the tournament to court out-of-state companies to do business in the state.
That ended in 2017 when Justice -- who was elected governor in 2016 -- instructed the Commerce Department not to seek an exemption from the Ethics Act to continue attending the tournament. The department recently received a contract exemption in 2017 to attend the annual Business Summit sponsored by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and held at the Greenbrier.
While Justice turned over the Greenbrier to his daughter Jill, he did not place the Greenbrier in a blind trust. The resort, the golf course and the charity are three out of 117 business holdings of the governor.
Old White Charities for 2017 had $7.6 million in assets and $22.9 million in liabilities, putting it $15.2 million in the red going into 2018. Terwilliger said news of the federal investigation hurt the charity's ability to raise money.
"Just the existence of an investigation hurts your reputation," Terwilliger said. "It makes people who've been your friends or business partners just look at you differently. It damages relationships. The Justice family has been through all that and more since the subpoenas were reported last year."
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)