Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been under fire after a report from ProPublica detailed multiple luxury trips that he received from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal he made with the wealthy Republican, the news outlet reported Thursday.
According to ProPublica, Thomas secretly sold Crow a series of properties in a row on a residential street in Savannah, Georgia, including a single-story home and two vacant lots. The company bought the properties from Thomas, his mother and his late brother’s family, according to a state tax document and a deed dated Oct. 15, 2014, that the outlet obtained. But Thomas never disclosed the deal.
Four ethics law experts told ProPublica, which first reported the transaction on Thursday, that Thomas’ silence appears to violate a federal disclosure law.
“Given the role Crow has played in subsidizing the lifestyle of Thomas and his wife, you have to wonder if this was an effort to put cash in their pockets,” one said.
The single-story home also happened to be the house in which his elderly mother was living—and continues to live, according to two neighbors.
In a statement, Crow said he’d bought the house in the hopes of one day turning it into a public museum.
Shortly after the 2014 sale, according to ProPublica, a local architecture firm received permits to begin $36,000 worth of improvements, including a carport and a repaired roof.
But Crow did not mention the two vacant lots he bought from Thomas.
ProPublica reported that Thomas did not respond to detailed questions for its most recent story on the real estate deal.
