A new ProPublica report reveals just how far Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas‘ professional perks extend with lengthy details on undisclosed, expensive, and opulent trips and activities bankrolled by ultrawealthy patrons.
While it’s been previously reported that close friend and billionaire Harlan Crow has financed some of these lavish escapades, newly reported records and interviews show that other wealthy benefactors have been backing many of the justice’s vacations, flights, and other events, such as businessman David Sokol, a man who was once the top executive at Berkshire Hathaway.
Additionally, billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, who transformed Blockbuster into a business behemoth, and oil baron Paul “Tony” Novelly are some other notable figures that Thomas first met after he was appointed to the federal bench.
According to ProPublica, each of these business moguls financed at least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica, and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.
Even close friend and healthcare magnate Anthony Welters partly underwrote a Prevost Marathon RV that cost nearly $270,000, according to a new report by The New York Times. Welters called the payment a “loan” used to purchase the recreational vehicle which he said was a “passion” of Thomas’. Welters also stated that the loan was “satisfied” nine years after the vehicle’s purchase.
As for the trips funded by Thomas’ other wealthy friends, while some parts of those expenditures might not have required full disclosure, ethics experts say Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises, and expensive sports tickets.
“In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” Jeremy Fogel, a former federal…
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