Clarence Thomas took luxury trips from billionaire GOP donor without disclosure: report
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has traveled aboard a major Republican donor’s superyacht and personal jet for more than 20 years — even vacationing at the billionaire’s private resort — without reporting the excursions on financial disclosure forms, according to a report.
Nonprofit media outlet ProPublica reported on Thursday that the trips were subsidized by Thomas’s longtime friend — businessman Harlan Crow.
In 2019, for example, Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, flew to Indonesia on Crow’s private jet with the donor and his wife Kathy.
The two couples and other guests then cruised around the archipelago aboard Crow’s 162-foot yacht, the Michaela Rose.
ProPublica reports that the trip was not mentioned by Thomas in required annual financial disclosures and could have cost more than $500,000 had the justice chartered the plane and yacht on his own.
The outlet also found evidence that Thomas has taken several other trips aboard Crow’s boat and plane over the years, none of which the justice mentioned.
Justices on the high court are required to list gifts received when they file their annual financial disclosure report, including “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation.”
ProPublica also reported that Thomas has vacationed at Crow’s private resort in upstate New York nearly every summer for the last two decades, which he also did not disclose — and on some occasions appeared to use Crow’s private jet to make the trip from Washington, DC.
Accommodations at similar resorts in the Adirondacks can cost more than $2,000 per night, according to the report.
Under judiciary policy, food, lodging or entertainment received as “personal hospitality of any individual” does not need to be reported if it is at the personal residence of that individual or their family.
However, ProPublica’s report suggested Thomas should have disclosed the stays since Crow’s resort is owned by a business entity.
The accommodations and amenities Thomas received from Crow are reminiscent of some of the luxurious perks President Biden has received from wealthy associates while both commander-in-chief and vice president.
Biden, 80, and other members of his family rang in 2023 in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, at a beachfront villa owned by wealthy business owners Bill and Connie Neville, who had previously attended a White House state dinner.
The accommodations were provided to the Bidens by the Nevilles for free.
Biden has stayed at the Neville home on “many” occasions, according to a VRBO listing that advertises a daily rate beginning at $700 for ordinary guests.
He has never reported trips to the St. Croix home in his financial disclosure forms as president or vice president.
Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told The Post in December that people are “almost never” prosecuted for false statements on disclosure forms because it’s “very hard” to prove gifts were omitted with an intent to deceive.
Biden has also stayed for free at the nine-bedroom Kiawah Island, SC, home of donor Maria Allwin, where he had vacationed multiple times as vice president beginning in 2009.
The stays also were not disclosed by Biden.
“They’ve never paid,” a source close to Allwin told The Post of the first family.
Biden has also twice stayed at the sprawling $20 million Nantucket home of billionaire David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity Carlyle Group, while president — without mentioning the stays on financial disclosure forms.
The president and vice president are required to list lodging worth more than $390 that is provided gratis.
Ethics experts say the “personal hospitality” reporting exception on that form does not cover instances where the homeowner isn’t present.