Clarence Thomas didn't repay $267K luxury RV loan: Senate committee

Clarence Thomas never repaid a millionaire friend’s $267,000 loan which the Supreme Court justice used to buy a 40-foot luxury motorcoach, Senate investigators announced Wednesday.

Healthcare magnate Anthony Welters told the Senate Finance Committee he forgave the RV loan after five years of receiving payments on the interest but not the principal, the report states.

“Now we know that Justice Thomas had up to $267,230 in debt forgiven and never reported it on his ethics forms,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, (D-OR) said in a statement.

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Wyden called on Thomas to specify exactly how much of the debt he paid and whether the loan was reported on tax returns.

“I have also directed the committee to share our findings with the Judiciary Committee to evaluate the ethics implications of this disclosure,” Wyden said.

The censure from the Senate arrives months after a New York Times investigation uncovered the 1999 “sweetheart deal” that landed Thomas with a Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL vehicle, typically favored by rock bands and the ultra-rich.

New evidence detailed in a committee memorandum includes:

• A handwritten note from Thomas, written on Supreme Court stationery confirming the deal.
• A promissory note from Thomas and his wife Virginia Lamp Thomas agreeing to 7.5 percent interest per annum.
• A $20,042.25 check — covering the 7.5 percent interest rate — made out by Thomas to Welters for a “Motorcoach Payment” dated December 2000.
• A handwritten note from Welters, dated November 2008, saying he believed Thomas had repaid the principal and need no longer submit payments.

“Justice Thomas appears to have flouted an ethics rule requiring that he include any ‘discharge of indebtedness’ as income on required annual financial disclosure reports,” the memorandum states.

Thomas did not respond to a request for comment sent by the Times, which was first to report the Senate committee findings. The Times also notes Welter’s math on that last memo doesn’t quite add up and comes with little proof to back it.

This is not Thomas’s first foray into financial scandal.

Multiple reports from ProPublica show Thomas and his wife frequently received undisclosed gifts that included travel on private jets and yachts.

At the time, former government ethics attorney Virginia Canter said Thomas appeared to have ignored his higher ethical obligations.

“When a justice’s lifestyle is being subsidized by the rich and famous, it absolutely corrodes public trust,” said Canter. “Quite frankly, it makes my heart sink.”