‘A SWEETHEART DEAL’

Clarence Thomas Didn’t Repay Most of Loan for ‘Really Bougie’ RV: Senate

The Supreme Court justice borrowed more than a quarter of a million dollars from a wealthy friend to buy the 40-foot recreational vehicle in 1999.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to repay a “significant portion” of a chunk of a change he borrowed from a wealthy friend in 1999 to buy a $267,230 luxury motorhome, according to a report by the Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee. Obtained by The New York Times, the report outlines instead how, after nine years and an unclear number of interest payments made by Thomas, the rest of the loan was forgiven by Anthony Welters, a former healthcare executive and Democratic donor. “This was, in short, a sweetheart deal,” a congressional expert witness told the Times, which earlier this year published an investigation into the purchase of the “superluxury, really bougie” Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon, as the grandson of its previous owner put it. In a statement to the newspaper at the time, Welters said that the loan had been “satisfied” by 2008. Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through the Supreme Court’s spokesperson.