The wife of Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a strong opponent of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, made up to $1.75 million from stock sales in August, his most recent disclosure form shows.
Blumenthal released a periodic disclosure form on Sept. 19 with stock trades from Aug. 14-24, according to a publicly available senate disclosure database. Blumenthal’s wife sold up to $1.25 million worth of stock in Radius Global Infrastructure and up to $500,000 worth of Keurig Dr. Pepper stock, the form says. (RELATED: Sen. Blumenthal’s Family Splured On Intel Stock Before He Voted For A Massive Subsidy Bill)
Two of the stock trades were made by Peter L. Malkin Family 2000 LLC and the other was made by LarryMae Partners LLC. Both entities are owned by Blumenthal’s wife, the disclosure form states.
Blumenthal was identified by the New York Times in 2022 as one of 97 members of Congress who had a conflict of interest, and the outlet cited his wife’s transactions. A spokesperson for Blumenthal told the outlet he “neither owns, nor has any vested interest, in any individual stock himself.” His office similarly told the Washington Free Beacon in March 2022 that Blumenthal and his wife do not make any of the trades in their stock portfolio.
The senator’s wife, Cynthia Malkin, is the daughter of real estate investor Peter Malkin, and she married Blumenthal in 1982, according to an an archived New York Times article. Estimates of Blumenthal’s net worth range from roughly $50-$100 million primarily from real estate holdings.
Blumenthal called for Thomas to resign in April after a report accused him of accepting improper gifts from Republican donor Harlan Crow.
Justice Thomas should resign – to uphold the Court and American justice. The unavoidable, sickening appearance of impropriety stains trust & credibility in our whole judiciary.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) April 15, 2023
“Justice Thomas should resign – to uphold the Court and American justice. The unavoidable, sickening appearance of impropriety stains trust & credibility in our whole judiciary,” Blumenthal said on April 14. In May, Blumenthal requested the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate Thomas during a hearing on Supreme Court ethics, the Washington Examiner reported.
The allegations of financial impropriety by Thomas came primarily from left-wing outlet ProPublica, which shares many of the same donors as the left-wing activist organizations demanding Thomas resign. The outlet has also relied on commentary from purported ethics experts who have donated to Democrats and supported left-wing causes.
ProPublica previously took donations from disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently in jail awaiting trial for allegedly misusing customer funds for personal endeavors. The outlet said in December it was returning $1.6 million worth of funding from Bankman-Fried.
Thomas’ financial disclosure in August complied with new Judicial Conference rules and showed four private flights and included details on Crow’s 2014 purchase of Thomas’ mother’s home.
Elliot Berke, a managing partner at Berke Farah LLP, the law firm that assisted Thomas with his financial disclosure, said the disclosure refuted any alleged ethics violations.
“After reviewing Justice Thomas’s records, I am confident there has been no willful ethics transgression, and any prior reporting errors were strictly inadvertent,” Berke said in the disclosure’s executive summary.
“No Justice, Justice Thomas included, should be subjected to such political blood sport.”
Blumenthal’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.