WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 21: (L-R) Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas while he waits to speak at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Clarence Thomas has now served on the Supreme Court for 30 years. He was nominated by former President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and is the second African-American to serve on the high court, following Justice Thurgood Marshall. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose that he took another trip on billionaire megadonor Harlan Crow’s private jet.
The news was revealed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) on Monday. According to a letter to Crow’s attorney from Wyden, flight records show that in 2010, Thomas and his wife, Virginia Thomas, traveled round-trip from Hawaii to New Zealand while aboard the GOP megadonor’s private jet.
“I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill,” the Oregon senator wrote in the letter. “This concern is only heightened by the Committee’s recent discovery of additional undisclosed international travel on Mr. Crow’s private jet by Justice Thomas.”
“As I consider legislative solutions to curb potentially abusive deductions, I am offering you one final opportunity to address the tax treatment of yacht and jet trips involving Justice Thomas,” he added. “I am also offering you the chance to substantiate that the holding company for your client’s yacht, Rochelle Charter, was genuinely engaged in for-profit yacht chartering activities and not merely an entity used to write off the cost of the Crow family’s luxurious lifestyle.”
In a statement on Monday responding to the letter, Michael Zona, a spokesman for Crow, accused Wyden of “abusing his committee’s powers as part of a politically motivated campaign against the Supreme Court.”
He also stated that the megadonor always followed tax law and the senator’s inquiries have “no legal basis and are only intended to harass a private citizen.”
“Mr. Crow and his businesses are in good standing with the IRS. He has always followed applicable tax law as advised by national accounting firms who serve as his tax advisers,” Zona added.
According to Thomas’ annual financial disclosure report released on June 7, Thomas officially revealed a 2019 trip to Bali, Indonesia, paid for by Crow.
In June, the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that Thomas failed to disclose three more private jet trips granted to him by Crow.
One was a flight to Kalispell, Montana, in 2017; another to Savannah, Georgia, his hometown, in 2019; and the third to San Jose, California, in 2021.
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