Megadonor embroiled in ethics scandal gave thousands to Winsome Earle-Sears

Harlan Crow, the far-right billionaire who created an ethics controversy by giving lavish gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has donated $65,000 to Virginia governor candidate Winsome Earle-Sears.

Crow personally gave $10,000 to Earle-Sears in 2022 and another $5,000 earlier this year. The Crow Family Office Pool, L.L.C., of which Crow is the CEO, gave $50,000 to Earle-Sears’ PAC in January 2024.

Crow, who inherited a real estate empire from his father, has been active in conservative politics since the 1990s. He is a founding member of the Club for Growth, an advocacy group that has pushed for cuts to Social Security and lower tax rates for wealthy people.

In April 2023, ProPublica reported that Crow allowed Thomas to use his private jet and yacht. It was later revealed that Crow paid for the private school tuition of Thomas’ grandnephew and for renovations to a property occupied by Thomas’ mother. Thomas did not report these gifts in his annual financial disclosures, as required by law.

“Justice Thomas’s acceptance of and failure to disclose these repeated, lavish gifts … not only undermines public trust in his ability to serve impartially on the Court, it undermines confidence in the Supreme Court as an institution,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Both Thomas and Crow maintain that they have a personal friendship and that there is nothing untoward about their relationship.

Earle-Sears has served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia since 2022. She won the Republican nomination for governor on April 5.

Earle-Sears’s Democratic opponent is former Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Crow contributed $2,800 to Spanberger in 2019 but has not donated to her since.

An Earle-Sears spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.