Faced with questions about the financial details tied to helping Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas purchase a $276K recreational vehicle decades ago, the healthcare executive who gave him a helping hand shut off communications after the New York Times pressed him for details.
With Thomas already under scrutiny for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in trips and gifts from wealthy conservative admirers, the Times reported on Saturday that Thomas' boasts about "skrimping" to purchase the used 40-foot-long Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon fell apart after a title search.
According to a report from the Times' Jo Becker and Julie Tate, Thomas has long talked about using his RV -- seen in a 2007 "Sixty Minutes" interview --- to travel the country when the court is out of session.
However, a description of how he acquired it, given to one of his biographers omitted a few pertinent details.
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As the Times reported, "His Prevost Marathon cost $267,230, according to title history records obtained by The New York Times. And Justice Thomas, who in the ensuing years would tell friends how he had scrimped and saved to afford the motor coach, did not buy it on his own. In fact, the purchase was underwritten, at least in part, by Anthony Welters, a close friend who made his fortune in the health care industry," adding, "He provided Justice Thomas with financing that experts said a bank would have been unlikely to extend — not only because Justice Thomas was already carrying a lot of debt, but because the Marathon brand’s high level of customization makes its used motor coaches difficult to value."
Asked for comment, Weleter sent an email to the Times, explaining, "Here is what I can share. Twenty-five years ago, I loaned a friend money, as I have other friends and family. We’ve all been on one side or the other of that equation. He used it to buy a recreational vehicle, which is a passion of his.” Adding that the “the loan was satisfied,” nine years later, Welters provided the Times with a "photograph of the original title bearing his signature and a handwritten 'lien release' date of Nov. 22, 2008."
Pressed to provide more information, the Times is reporting he has not responded to subsequent inquiries for two weeks.
The Times report adds, "He would not say how much he had lent Justice Thomas, how much the justice had repaid and whether any of the debt had been forgiven or otherwise discharged. He declined to provide The Times with a copy of a loan agreement — or even say if one existed. Nor would he share the basic terms of the loan, such as what, if any, interest rate had been charged or whether Justice Thomas had adhered to an agreed-upon repayment schedule. And when asked to elaborate on what he had meant when he said the loan had been 'satisfied,' he did not respond."
Tax expert Michael Hamersley said Welters opened the door to more questions about the arrangement.
“‘Satisfied’ doesn’t necessarily mean someone paid the loan back. Satisfied’ could also mean the lender formally forgave the debt, or otherwise just stopped pursuing repayment,” he offered.
According to the report, Thomas has also not responded to inquiries about the financing of his luxury recreational vehicle.
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