Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday he was unaware of an effort by a bank seeking to garnish his wages as governor to cover another personal loan guarantee for his private businesses.
Justice was asked about an application for suggestee execution filed March 21 by Citizens Bank of West Virginia with the Randolph County Circuit Court seeking a garnishment of salary and wages after the bank was awarded a judgment against Justice-owned Bluestone Resources Inc. in October 2022 of $861,085, which includes unpaid interest and costs.
“I hate this. I really, really hate it, because I don’t even know anything about it,” Justice said Wednesday afternoon during a virtual administration briefing from the Capitol. “From the standpoint of notifications to me and everything, I found out about this the same time you found out about it.”
The bank is seeking a 20% garnishment of Justice’s salary as governor after state and federal taxes or the total amount of Justice’s wages after deductions each week that exceed the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less. The garnishment would be for one year from the time the court grants the garnishment.
According to the West Virginia Record, Justice personally guaranteed loans for Bluestone with Citizens Bank for the purchase of heavy machinery. The initial loan was $2.8 million, with Bluestone securing an additional loan of $278,014. The bank took Bluestone to court for defaulting on its repayment of the loans.
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Shaky
Article URL : https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2023/03/bank-seeks-to-garnish-west-virginia-gov-jim-justices-wages/