JUST A FRIEND

Wealthy Exec Funded Clarence Thomas’ Cherished $270K R.V.: Report

“Here is what I can share. Twenty-five years ago, I loaned a friend money,” Anthony Welters said.

The list of gifts and perks Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is accused of accepting just keeps getting longer. Anthony Welters, a close friend and longtime executive in the health-care industry, funded—at least in part—Thomas’ cherished $267,230 R.V., according to title history records obtained by The New York Times. “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,” Welters told the Times in a statement. While Welters said “the loan was satisfied,” he declined to reveal how much he had loaned or provide a copy of a loan agreement (if one existed). Welters and Thomas have been friends since before the justice took the federal bench, and Welters even reportedly named Thomas the godfather of one of his sons. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment about the R.V. loan from the Times. Earlier this year, a bombshell report from ProPublica revealed real estate magnate Harlan Crow paid for Thomas’ lavish vacations and his grandnephew’s private boarding school tuition.