Harlan Crow, chairman and chief executive officer of Crow Holdings LLC, sits for a photograph on the Old Parkland estate offices in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015.
Chris Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Monday asked GOP megadonor Harlan Crow for a whole list of gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and evidence that the billionaire real estate developer complied with federal tax law in reference to the long-undisclosed largesse to Thomas.
“This unprecedented arrangement between a wealthy benefactor and a Supreme Court justice raises serious concerns related to federal tax and ethics laws,” Wyden, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in a six-page letter to Crow.
Wyden’s letter was sent as Thomas and the Supreme Court itself face criticism following an April 6 report by ProPublica that the CEO of Crow Holdings for greater than twenty years has treated the conservative justice to luxurious trips price at the least tons of of 1000’s of dollars.
ProPublica also reported on April 13 that a Crow company in 2014 purchased three properties in Savannah, Georgia, from Thomas and his family, including a house where the justice’s mother has lived rent-free for greater than a decade.
The gifted trips to Thomas and his wife, Ginni, were to places similar to Indonesia, Latest Zealand and Greece, with travel on Crow’s private jet and 162-foot superyacht Michaela Rose.
Thomas had not disclosed any of the gifts from Crow, or the property purchases by him, until they were revealed by ProPublica.
“The secrecy surrounding your dealings with Justice Thomas is solely unacceptable,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Crow.
“The American public deserves a full accounting of the total extent of your largesse towards Justice Thomas, including whether these gifts complied with all relevant federal tax and ethics laws,” he wrote.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., speaks during a Senate Finance Committee nomination hearing on Feb. 23, 2021.
Greg Nash | Pool | Reuters
The letter asks for a listing of all flights Thomas took on any of Crow’s jets, in addition to details of those trips. Wyden requested similar details concerning the justice’s trips on the Michaela Rose and knowledge concerning the Georgia property purchases.
He concluded by writing, “Please list any additional gifts or payments with a price in excess of $1,000 made to Justice Thomas or members of his family since he was sworn into the Supreme Court that
wouldn’t be captured by” the prior questions.
Wyden’s letter noted that federal tax law requires the giver of a present to pay any applicable tax.
“The IRS has long made clear the gift tax applies to the transferor of a present, including in cases where
the transferor provides for the ‘use of property’ without expecting to receive something of at
least equal value in return,” Wyden wrote.
Along with asking Crow for evidence related to the potential of gift taxes being owed by the business, Wyden asked whether Crow claimed business deductions or depreciation for his plane and yacht related to the trips by Thomas.
Wyden is the rating Senate Democrat on Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas arrives for the swearing-in ceremony of Judge Neil Gorsuch as an associate Supreme Court justice within the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, April 10, 2017.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
A spokesman for Crow didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from CNBC about Wyden’s letter. Thomas didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment sent to the Supreme Court’s media affairs office.
Last week, Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, invited Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify about ethics reform of the high court.
Durbin’s letter to Roberts noted that “there was a gradual stream of revelations regarding Justices falling wanting the moral standards expected of other federal judges.”
Roberts has yet to answer to that invitation, Durbin noted over the weekend.
