Yes, I don’t have stats, but when I sold capital equipment, we would run into outwardly solid companies with reputations for stiffing suppliers and vendors left and right. A common ploy was to lease a piece of equipment, then allege that the item didn’t work right and use that claim in an effort to break the lease.
Using your vendors as an interest-free source of capital. Of course, Trump is notorious for this behavior.
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Fat-assed rich guy who has to be sued to pay his bills.
He and tRump can share a spot in hell.
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" Behind every great fortune lies a great crime".
–Balzac
In the 1800s, fortunes in coal were made with 10 yr old children working in mines.
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That continued well into the early 20th century.
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My uncle, born in 1900 worked as a “breaker boy” in the PA coal mines at age 14. He lied about his age, joined the cavalry at age 15.
Died at age 85.
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Welcome to capitalism and it’s JustUs system that allows people like Jim Justice to walk the streets, while going after small fry and workers and the poor. He and Trump are hardly alone: look at the practices of many donators to both parties.
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Billionaires and Corporate CEOs can defraud, steal and injure their employees with no personal accountability. They might behave differently if criminal laws were made applicable to their crimes.
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I see the future GOP candidate for the Presidency.
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“Citing federal racketeering laws, New London Tobacco alleges that the Justices are “members of an association-in-fact enterprise” — a term originally intended to allow the targeting of organized crime.”
… and being used here as originally intended. In what moral universe are these people not thieves? Monstrous, blood-sucking thieves?
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And often using debt as the instrument.
ETA: People who do work that’s dangerous tend to bond. Throw in the fact that a whole town revolves around that work, and the sense of community is strong. Take that away, and the sense of loss is devastating.
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Excellent article. Thanks for all the links to pleadings – they make fascinating reading.
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About 150 retired miners around West Virginia were making a similar discovery. So the United Mine Workers of America, the same miners’ union that had endorsed Justice’s election as governor in 2016, went to court last year and asked a federal judge to force the Justice companies to pay.
Maybe the first step would be for all these miners and their unions to not support Gov Justice?
Just a thought…
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He got elected as a Democrat, then switched back to the GOP shortly after taking office.
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I had forgotten that. Thx
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Off topic, except for the fact that the reporting comes from the same place - the wonderful ProPublica
The podcast Trump, Inc has a good episode today with 2 different stories. The first is from this article, and touches on the impending implosion of commercial real estate through the wonderful instruments of - you guessed it - mortgage backed securities. Will the opaque machinations of the multi-billion dollar bailout be able to stop the destruction (and preserve millions in wealth for Trump)?
The second is a repeat of a very deep dive they did last year about the relationship between Trump, Kushner and Deutsche Bank, and it is a barn burner. As we continually fall forwrd into the latest scandal/distraction/insult/racist demagoguery, it is important to go back and visit the classics.
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Gov. Jim Justice
Thank you for leaving the Democratic Party.
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Another Republican crook added to the pile of sludge. When do their destitute enablers say enough? They keep putting these people in office. This is an industry particularly rife with fraud and fatal, industrial accidents.
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You don’t get to be a billionaire by paying bills.
I was searching for that analogy. Thanks.
In just 20 years they have redefined WV manliness as avoiding union membership. Leading to more deaths and more poverty. And more wealth for the Jim Justices of the state.
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