Jim Justice, the Republican US senator, and his wife have agreed to pay more than $5m that the couple owes in back taxes shortly after being sued over the 16-year-old debt by the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in their home state of West Virginia, maintained that the Justices had received notice from the US treasury department of the funds due since 2009 but had “neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments”.
