- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sent a child in his custody to a private boarding school.
- GOP megadonor Harlan Crow paid at least some of the child's $6,000-a-month tuition, per ProPublica.
A company owned by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow paid for a close relative of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to attend a private boarding school, according to an investigation by ProPublica.
Thomas made the decision in 2008 to send Mark Martin Jr., his biological grandnephew who had been living with him for a decade prior, to the Hidden Lake Academy in northern Georgia, ProPublica reported.
In 2007, Thomas said he was raising Martin "as a son."
Tuition at the Hidden Lake Academy cost more than $6,000 a month, but ProPublica reported that Thomas did not pay for Martin's education himself.
According to the media outlet, a bank statement from the school from July 2009 showed that at least a month's fees were paid for by Crow Holdings — a real estate and development firm run by Crow.
A former administrator at the school, Christopher Grimwood, told ProPublica that Crow covered the costs of Martin's entire education at the school — about a year.
"Harlan picked up the tab," said Grimwood, who had access to the school's finances, per ProPublica.
The media outlet reported that Grimwood also alleged that Crow had said he had paid the tuition for a second boarding school —Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia.
If Crow had paid for Martin's education at both schools over a period of four years, he would have spent more than $150,000, ProPublica said.
But Thomas did not report any of Crow's contributions to Martin's education on annual financial disclosures, despite him disclosing a small gift of $5,000 to the child in his custody's schooling from another friend, according to the news outlet.
Crow did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. But in a statement provided to ProPublica, Crow's office said Thomas did not ask him to pay for the tuition, adding that the real estate magnate had also supported many other students at a variety of schools over the years.
His office added: "It's disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious and political."
Thomas also did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
The justice has previously defended himself against allegations of judicial misconduct relating to his financial dealings with Crow, justifying his actions by saying the billionaire megadonor did not have "business before the court."
A Bloomberg report, however, found that an appeals case involving the Crow family business did in fact go to the court in 2004, with Thomas not recusing himself.
ProPublica's series of reports allege that Thomas sold his childhood home to Crow without disclosing the sale, while letting the justice's mom continue to live there. They also accuse Thomas of taking secret, lavish vacations on a private jet and a superyacht paid for by Crow for more than two decades.
Democrats have used these examples to call on Thomas' resignation or impeachment, which experts say is an unlikely prospect.