Read the Letter to Harlan Crow

RON WYDEN, OREGON, CHAIRMAN
DEBBIE STABENOW, MICHIGAN
MARIA CANTWELL, WASHINGTON
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NEW JERSEY
THOMAS R. CARPER, DELAWARE
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, MARYLAND
SHERROD BROWN, OHIO
MICHAEL F. BENNET, COLORADO
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., PENNSYLVANIA
MARK R. WARNER, VIRGINIA
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, RHODE ISLAND
MAGGIE HASSAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, NEVADA
ELIZABETH WARREN, MASSACHUSETTS
MIKE CRAPO, IDAHO
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IOWA
JOHN CORNYN, TEXAS
JOHN THUNE, SOUTH DAKOTA
TIM SCOTT, SOUTH CAROLINA
BILL CASSIDY, LOUISIANA
JAMES LANKFORD, OKLAHOMA
STEVE DAINES, MONTANA
TODD YOUNG, INDIANA
JOHN BARRASSO, WYOMING
RON JOHNSON, WISCONSIN
THOM TILLIS, NORTH CAROLINA
MARSHA BLACKBURN, TENNESSEE
United States Senate
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6200
JOSHUA SHEINKMAN, STAFF DIRECTOR
GREGG RICHARD, REPUBLICAN STAFF DIRECTOR
August 5, 2024
Michael D. Bopp
Partner
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-5306
Dear Mr. Bopp,
Thank you for your February 29th letter on behalf of your client, Harlan Crow, replying to
requests for information related to the Senate Committee on Finance’s (“The Committee”) investigation
into the tax treatment of the use of Mr. Crow’s superyacht and private aircraft. Unfortunately, your
evasive response has only heightened my concerns that Mr. Crow and his associates were involved in a
scheme to avoid paying taxes by claiming business deductions on personal travel. In particular, your
response did not address the simple question of whether Mr. Crow claimed any tax deductions on
expenses related to yacht and private aircraft use by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that you
have stated were for “personal hospitality”.
I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant
gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill. This concern is only heightened by the Committee’s
recent discovery of additional undisclosed international travel on Mr. Crow’s private jet by Justice
Thomas. As I consider legislative solutions to curb potentially abusive deductions, I am offering you one
final opportunity to address the tax treatment of yacht and jet trips involving Justice Thomas. I am also
offering you the chance to substantiate that the holding company for your client’s yacht, Rochelle
Charter, was genuinely engaged in for profit yacht chartering activities and not merely an entity used to
write off the cost of the Crow family’s luxurious lifestyle.
I.
Refusal to clarify the tax treatment of yacht and private jet trips lavished on a public
official in the context of “personal hospitality”
As you are aware, your prior responses to the Committee state that all trips Justice Thomas took
on the Michaela Rose and private jets owned or chartered by Mr. Crow were in the context of “personal
hospitality”. Personal trips do not serve as a business purpose, which is required under tax laws to permit
costs associated with the trips to be tax deductible. On several occasions, I have asked directly how many
times Justice Thomas traveled aboard the Michaela Rose and private jets paid for by Mr. Crow, and
whether Mr. Crow deducted the costs of these particular trips on tax filings. These should not be difficult
questions to answer. The possibility that Mr. Crow may have lavished secret gifts on a sitting Supreme