Nine years of interest-only payments would total roughly $180,000, considerably less than the loan amount. “Welters forgave the balance of the loan to Thomas in recognition of the payments made by Thomas which Welters characterized as interest only payments that exceeded the amount of the original loan,” the report says. Welters gave the committee a copy of just one payment of $20,042 that Thomas made, in 2000. In 2004, the time to repay the loan was extended until 2014.ĭocuments voluntarily provided by Welters to the committee show that he forgave the loan in 2008, the report says. Thomas has talked about staying in Walmart parking lots and RV parks, which are “what the neighborhoods used to be like.”Īt the time of the loan, Thomas said in a handwritten note on his Supreme Court letterhead that agreements to pay interest of 7.5% a year and repay the money in five years, the report says. Thomas borrowed the money from Welters, a healthcare executive, to buy a 40-foot refitted tour bus in which he tours the country with his wife, Ginni. The court, the only part of the federal judiciary with a formal code of conduct, is debating whether to adopt an ethics code and, in recent months, three justices have voiced their support for such a move. Thomas, 75, has been at the center of a heightened focus on ethics at the Supreme Court over his undisclosed travel and other ties with wealthy conservative supporters. John McCain won four of the states electoral votes, with Barack Obama winning one. Committee Democrats undertook their inquiry following the Times’ story. House of Representatives Big Board - Election Results 2008 - The New York Times House of Representatives Big Board Map Democrat 21 seats gained Majority Party undecided Republican 21 Seats. The loan’s existence was first reported during the summer by the New York Times. WASHINGTON (AP) - All or most of a $267,000 loan obtained by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to buy a high-end motorcoach appears to have been forgiven, raising tax and ethics questions, according to a new report by Senate Democrats.Īnthony “Tony” Welters, a longtime friend of Thomas who made the loan in 1999, forgave the debt after nine years of what he called interest-only payments, says the report, which was released Wednesday by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee.
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