Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid private boarding school tuition for the grandnephew of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom he raised as a son, newly revealed documents show.
According to financial records obtained by ProPublica, a payment was made by Crow’s company to Hidden Lake Academy in July 2009; this private boarding school in northern Georgia had a monthly tuition of more than $6,000 at the time. Mark Martin, Thomas’s great-nephew, was identified on the $6,200 payment receipt.
According to Christopher Grimwood, a former school administrator, Martin, who was placed in Thomas’ legal custody when he was six years old, attended Hidden Lake Academy for nearly a year with all of his tuition paid for by Crow.
Thomas failed to disclose Crow’s tuition payments on his annual financial declarations. The shocking revelations were the most recent regarding Thomas and Crow, who bought three Georgia properties from Thomas and his family and paid for his and his wife’s opulent vacations and private jet flights.
The latest findings emerged as Congress and outside organizations increased their scrutiny of Thomas and the Supreme Court for ethics violations. Democrats specifically criticized the court during a hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in response to a number of recent articles that raised concerns about disclosure procedures.
