The Senate Finance Committee reported Wednesday that US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did not repay a more than $200,000 loan for a vehicle purchase from 1999.

Specifically, the committee’s memo stated the loan was $267,230 from Tony Welters, a friend of Thomas. The committee interviewed Welters and received a written note from 1999 by Thomas with the details of the loan and a check from 2000 for $20,042.23 from Thomas to Welters to pay off the first year’s interest of the loan. The crux of the allegation is from a 2008 written note from Welters to Thomas, reportedly absolving Thomas of any future payments on the loan. From 1999 to 2008, Thomas paid interest on the loan yearly. However, Welters stated in that 2008 note that he would no longer request payment from Thomas because the interest on the loan over the years added up to more than the recreational vehicle (RV) was worth.

Stemming from this finding, the committee reported that Thomas did not disclose the forgiven loan on his 2008 Financial Disclosure Report. An individual must disclose when a debt is forgiven according to the US tax code.

The loan, first reported by the New York Times in August, was for a Prevost Marathon. In a 60 Minutes interview from 2007, Thomas shared the interior of the vehicle, saying he would sometimes stay overnight in Walmart parking lots during his road trips across the US.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden shared his concerns over the ethical allegations of this forgiven loan when he stated:

Regular Americans don’t get wealthy friends to forgive huge amounts of debt so they can buy a second home. Justice Thomas should inform the committee exactly how much debt was forgiven and whether he properly reported the loan forgiveness on his tax returns and paid all taxes owned.

Throughout this year, Thomas has faced ethics-based scrutiny for his financial disclosures, prompting Congress to consider a bill that would reform ethics and disclosure requirements for Supreme Court justices. One disclosure made by Thomas last year included business trips with a billionaire, and ProPublica reported Thomas failed to disclose his attendance at a donor event hosted by the Koch network in 2018.