WASHINGTON, D.C. (LOOTPRESS) – U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., has received a public admonition from the Senate Select Committee on Ethics after failing to submit his required annual financial disclosure report by the federal deadline.
The committee issued a Public Letter of Admonition on November 10, 2026, citing Justice’s failure to comply with federal financial disclosure requirements and Senate rules.
Justice, who previously served as West Virginia’s governor before taking office in the U.S. Senate in January 2025, was originally required to submit his annual financial disclosure report by May 15, 2026.
After receiving two extensions, Justice was given a final deadline of August 13. However, the report was not submitted until September 8, nearly four weeks after the extended deadline.
According to the committee, Justice’s failure to meet the deadline marked the first recorded instance in the 47-year history of the governing law in which a sitting senator failed to submit an annual financial disclosure by the required deadline.
In its letter, the committee stated that Justice’s actions failed to meet the standards expected of members of the U.S. Senate.
“Your actions failed to uphold that standard, resulting in harm to the public trust and confidence in the United States Senate and a violation of federal law,” the committee wrote.
Justice attributed the delay to ongoing legal disputes involving his family’s businesses and The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, along with personal circumstances involving his longtime accountant.
Justice acknowledged that the report should have been submitted on time.
“Nevertheless, it should have been filed on time, period. It won’t happen again,” Justice said.
The public admonition serves as an official rebuke from the Senate Ethics Committee but does not constitute a formal Senate sanction.
No additional disciplinary action was announced in the committee’s letter.
The committee also said Justice’s filing assistant had acknowledged six separate reminders about the deadline. Despite those communications, the committee was notified less than 30 minutes before the final deadline that the report would not be submitted on time.
The financial disclosure requirement is intended to provide public transparency about senators’ assets, liabilities and sources of income.
The admonition was issued by committee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del.
