Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / What’s Next for Justice and The Greenbrier?

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What’s Next for Justice and The Greenbrier? · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Debt is a great tool until it's not. Get on
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  Speaker 1: the wrong side of leverage, and you may not find
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  Speaker 1: your way back, at least not without losing a piece
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  Speaker 1: of your financial identity. You have to wonder if that
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  Speaker 1: thought has crossed the mind of Senator Jim Justice. White
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  Speaker 1: Solfire Springs Holdings, a company tied to Omni Hotels, and
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  Speaker 1: its billionaire owner, Robert Rolling, has acquired the Greenbrier's debt,
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  Speaker 1: secured a first lean position, and is now moving to
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  Speaker 1: place the resort into receivership. Rolling's company didn't mince words
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  Speaker 1: in its filing. White Solfire wants Justice and his family out.
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  Speaker 1: It wants a receiver with full direct control of the Greenbrier.
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  Speaker 1: It wants termination of a forbearance agreement, a deal between
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  Speaker 1: a lender and a borrower where the lender agrees to
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  Speaker 1: temporarily hold off on enforcing a debt even though the
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  Speaker 1: borrower is behind or at risk of default. The filing
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  Speaker 1: stops short of calling the Senator a ne'er do well
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  Speaker 1: a failure, but it paints a troubling, even hopeless picture
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  Speaker 1: of his Greenbrier record, not a good look at In
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  Speaker 1: unpaid taxes, employee benefit issues and claims that the resort's
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  Speaker 1: future is at risk. Justice doesn't come close to looking strong.
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  Speaker 1: A few questions, a few thoughts. First, has Justice met
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  Speaker 1: his match? He's a United States Senator, an exclusive and
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  Speaker 1: powerful club to be in. By some accounts, he's one
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  Speaker 1: of the wealthiest in the group, despite persistent reports from
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  Speaker 1: Forbes of a negative net worth. Analysis from at least
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  Speaker 1: one firm estimates justices net worth at more than six
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  Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. In reality, much of Justice's holdings are
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  Speaker 1: privately owned, so unless you have his books, you really
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  Speaker 1: don't know. But now he's up against Rolling, whose fortune
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  Speaker 1: Forbes puts north of eight billion dollars. More money, more resources,
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  Speaker 1: more legal firepower, and Rolling, originally a Texas oil man
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  Speaker 1: who made his money when Texico bought his firm, has
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  Speaker 1: a track record of success. He's built Omni through aggressive
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  Speaker 1: strategic acquisitions, buying distressed assets like Amelia Island out of bankruptcy,
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  Speaker 1: and assembling high end resort portfolios worth hundreds of millions
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  Speaker 1: even billions of dollars. What sets him apart control? He
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  Speaker 1: wants the entire operation land brand buildings, because, as he's said, quote,
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  Speaker 1: you can't control quality, if someone else is running your hotel,
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  Speaker 1: it's not unfair to say Rolling is likely one of
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  Speaker 1: the toughest competitors Justice has ever encountered. And finally, the politics.
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  Speaker 1: Justice built his brand on being a successful businessman. The
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  Speaker 1: optics here challenge that narrative. If he's considering another run
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  Speaker 1: for governor in twenty twenty eight, as the chatter suggests,
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  Speaker 1: this becomes part of the story voters will weigh. Bottom line,
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  Speaker 1: Justice once echoed his father's advice, don't confuse effort with accomplishment.
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  Speaker 1: There's no question he's put effort into the Greenbrier. He's
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  Speaker 1: achieved a lot, but the ultimate test is sustainability that
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  Speaker 1: is in question despite the effort. It may be time
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  Speaker 1: to let it go without a fight for justice, for
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  Speaker 1: his family, for his political future, and for the long
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  Speaker 1: term viability of the resort itself. There is, however, no
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  Speaker 1: evidence that is likely to happen. A spokesman for the
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  Speaker 1: Greenbrier set over the weekend quote. TRT Holdings is a
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  Speaker 1: predatory out of state company that has filed a baseless
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  Speaker 1: court case in an attempt to prevent the Greenbrier from
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  Speaker 1: paying off the TRT loans and to steal the Greenbrier
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  Speaker 1: from local ownership. We look forward to our day in
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  Speaker 1: court into exposing trt's unlawful and malicious conduct. What happens next,
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  Speaker 1: We're all waiting to see.