Courts

Clarence Thomas Has More Billionaire Friends That Lavish Him With Expensive Gifts Than We Previously Thought

And he's disclosed none of it!

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Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas And Kennedy Testify Before House

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Apparently getting on the Supreme Court is an excellent way to make very wealthy friends that just happen to enjoy sharing the perks of extreme wealth with you. The more you know!

This life lesson comes via ProPublica, who continue to do the lord’s work digging into the life and times of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. And what a trip it’s been. ProPublica initially released an article detailing the two decades of Justice Thomas receiving travel and other gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow. A few days later, we got more details of the financial entanglement between the two men as it was revealed Crow bought from Thomas three pieces of property — including one Thomas’s mother lives on — and improved it, all with Thomas’s mother never paying rent. Then we got the news Crow paid for schooling for the family member Thomas considers like a son. And those required financial disclosures? Yeah, Thomas basically thumbed his nose at all that.

Now ProPublica reveals Thomas has more Billionaire Buddies — friends he only made *after* his appointment to the High Court —  that have given quite a few expensive gifts to the Supreme Court justice. Here’s what they’ve uncovered:

At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.

And the gift givers include Crow, natch. But also other benefactors, two of which he met at his fancy rich person club: David Sokol, a former Berkshire Hathaway executive, and H. Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire behind Blockbuster Video, AutoNation, and Waste Management, and there’s also Paul “Tony” Novelly, who made his billions in the petroleum business.

The report of what Thomas has received reads like an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

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Yacht trips:

Three of Novelly’s former yacht workers, including a captain, told ProPublica they recall Thomas coming on board the vessels multiple times in recent years. Novelly’s local chauffeur in the Bahamas said his company once picked Thomas up from the billionaire’s private jet and drove him to the marina where one of the yachts, Le Montrachet, frequently docks.

Le Montrachet, named after the premium French wine, is a 126-foot luxury vessel complete with a full bar, multiple dining areas, a baby grand piano, accommodations for 10 guests and a handful of smaller fishing boats and jet skis. Novelly charges about $60,000 a week to outsiders who want to charter it.

College football games:

Sokol, a major university donor who graduated from the Omaha campus, arranged for the group to attend the football and volleyball games [at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln] with all-access passes. Clarence Thomas met with the football team the day before the game. The group walked out of the tunnel before kickoff. During halftime, they stood on the sidelines to watch the marching band perform, at one point posing for a picture in the end zone: “The Sokols took four lucky couples to the first Nebraska footbal game of the season,” Ginni Thomas wrote in one of the card captions.

Luxury accommodations:

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On Sunday, the morning after the football game in Nebraska, Sokol flew with Thomas by private jet to Sokol’s Paintbrush Ranch just outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The property, valued in the low eight figures, sits in the foothills of Shadow Mountain. A local radio personality said of the estate: “This is the ultimate home and it has the most iconic view of the Tetons I’ve seen. Ever.”

Sokol also owns a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, currently worth $20.1 million, where he’s hosted the Thomases as well, according to photos of the visits. The 12,800-square-foot property includes a home theater, elevator, walk-in wine cellar and yacht docking. (In addition, Sokol and Thomas have shared an opulent lodge together while vacationing at Crow’s private lakeside resort, Camp Topridge, in the Adirondacks.)

Pro football games:

For 20 years, Thomas benefited from Huizenga’s attention as well, availing himself of the billionaire’s fleet of aircraft and other luxuries. Huizenga took Thomas to see the Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers several times between the mid-’90s and mid-2000s, according to interviews and photographs. Huizenga owned both teams at the time.

Helicopter rides:

Thomas occasionally flew on Huizenga’s helicopters, sometimes taking off from the roof of the corporate headquarters, and at least one of his Gulfstream jets around Florida, according to his former pilots. But the billionaire’s most luxurious planes were a pair of 737 jets he had retrofitted like a lounge, complete with recliners, love seats, mahogany dining and card tables and gourmet food.

Golf trips:

In the early 2000s, Huizenga gave Thomas something that was priceless at the time: a standing invitation to his exclusive, members-only golf club, the Floridian. Designed by golf legend Gary Player, the course was lined with cottages for Huizenga’s friends, a yacht marina for them to dock and a helipad if they wanted to fly in. One family friend told the Huizenga family biographer that the Floridian was “the most coveted private golf invitation in the world.” Those who worked and played there said the membership rolls were a Rolodex of the rich, famous and powerful: From Michael Douglas and Rush Limbaugh to Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Dan Quayle. Donald Trump once asked to be a member but Huizenga spurned him, according to three of Huizenga’s former employees.

All 200-plus members were “honorary” and didn’t pay dues — Huizenga covered everything. “It was a little slice of heaven, a magical place,” former media personality Matt Lauer told the biographer. “You drove through the gates and it was this fairytale land that he had created.”

It’s pretty clear that most — hell, probably all — of these gifts should have been disclosed by Thomas according to federal regulations. But the names Sokol, Huizenga, and Novelly never appear on the Justice’s disclosure forms. At this point, it is not surprising to learn the justice with no sense of judicial ethics would do this, but perhaps these additional revelations will continue to amp up the pressure on the Chief Justice to FINALLY crack down on the flouting of ethical standards.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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