Clarence Thomas Secretly Sold Mother’s Home to Harlan Crow

It’s one thing to know a friend’s mother, but quite another to be her landlord.

Harlan Crow, the son of Dallas real estate mogul Trammell Crow, bought a home in Savannah, Georgia, from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 2014, ProPublica reports. News of the $133,363 sale comes on the heels of a report that Thomas accepted all-expenses-paid vacations with Crow each year for decades without disclosing the gifts.

“Given the role Crow has played in subsidizing the lifestyle of Thomas and his wife, you have to wonder if this was an effort to put cash in their pockets,” Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer, told the outlet.

After purchasing the home where Thomas’ mother lived, Crow poured tens of thousands of dollars into renovations, adding a carport and repairing its roof and gates. A Crow Holdings company took over the home’s property tax payments, which Thomas and his wife had been paying. Crow also purchased several neighboring lots, including the house immediately next door, which had been known for hosting noisy parties.

Thomas’ mother still lives in the home, neighbors told the publication, and Crow didn’t respond when ProPublica asked if he charged her rent.

Crow, a prolific collector of historical artifacts, said he planned to turn the home into a public museum. Fittingly, he bought the house through an entity called Savannah Historic Developments LLC.

Federal disclosure law requires justices to disclose most real estate sales over $1,000. While Thomas’ financial disclosure that year included a life insurance policy and a medallion he received from Yale, he left the home sale off his annual report. The justice inherited his stake in the house after his grandfather’s death in 1983, and his signature appears on the deed transfer document.

In 2006, CBRE bought Trammell Crow Company for nearly $2 billion. Trammell Crow Company is a commercial development company that is separate from Crow Holdings and its subsidiaries. Crow took over Crow Holdings in the late 1980s and used his family’s substantial wealth to evolve the firm into an umbrella investment firm that included Trammell Crow Residential, Crow Holdings Capital, Crow Holdings Industrial and Crow Holdings Office.

—Joe Lovinger