Thomas Stanton

Thomas Stanton was the Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees (EOUST) within the DOJ. He became a central figure in Inslaw's allegations of a plot to convert its bankruptcy to a liquidation and a subsequent cover-up.

According to Anthony Pasciuto, then Deputy Director of EOUST, Stanton had pressured Philip White, the U.S. Trustee assigned to the Inslaw case, to convert Inslaw's Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Pasciuto also alleged that Stanton tried to detail Harry Jones, an attorney from the U.S. Trustee's Office, to Washington D.C. to work on converting the Inslaw case. Cornelius Blackshear, then a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, initially testified that White had told him of Stanton's pressure. Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, concluded that Stanton struck a bargain with C. Madison Brewer to liquidate INSLAW to rid the DOJ of its contract problems, and that Stanton made this commitment to curry favor with the EOUSA and higher DOJ officials to secure support for making the temporary U.S. Trustee program permanent. Bason believed Stanton agreed to pressure White and, when White resisted, sought to detail Jones to accomplish the conversion. However, the Special Counsel's investigation found that Stanton and Brewer denied any such discussions, and that Stanton testified he only briefly considered transferring Jones to assist with the Inslaw matter due to its high-profile nature, not to effect a conversion.¹

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigated allegations against Stanton and others, concluding that Bankruptcy Judge Bason's findings on the Independent Handling proceeding were "clearly erroneous" and that there was no evidence that DOJ employees had tried to pressure White to convert Inslaw's case. OPR also found no evidence that DOJ officials had lied to cover up a conversion effort. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) also investigated the matter, finding "no proof that an effort to convert Inslaw's bankruptcy proceedings was conducted by individuals beyond those the Bankruptcy Court had found responsible." The PSI noted that Stanton urged special treatment for the Inslaw case because he saw it as a means of favorably impressing the DOJ and ensuring continued support for his office, which, while improper, did not equate to the conspiracy alleged by the Hamiltons. The Special Counsel's investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish that the DOJ and Stanton endeavored to have the Inslaw case converted or engaged in any cover-up. It noted that a scheme to convert Inslaw would have been self-defeating, as only the Bankruptcy Court could order conversion, and the facts of the Inslaw case would not have supported such a motion.¹