By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coal companies in U.S. Sen. Jim Justice’s business portfolio that owe the federal government $434,000 in delinquent mine safety fine penalties want to keep tax returns and other financial information from public view as federal prosecutors look to collect on their debt.
Nearly two-dozen coal companies in the West Virginia Republican’s struggling family business empire asked a federal court Monday to approve an order they proposed that would allow them to designate tax returns and other financial or business information as confidential in litigation of the case.
The Justice coal firms proposed the protective order after a Jan. 16 hearing in which their attorney asserted they had no ability to pay the mine safety fine debt, which accrued from 2014-19 and was due in full March 1, 2024.
The Salem, Virginia-based attorney, Aaron Houchens, told a Virginia federal court judge bankruptcy organization was “long overdue” for the Justice coal companies.