Jury to get tax-evasion case against Supreme Court lawyer who became high-stakes poker player

GREENBELT, MD. (AP) — As an attorney, Thomas Goldstein routinely argued cases before the Supreme Court and published a popular blog about the nation’s highest court. Unbeknownst to his friends and colleagues, Goldstein had become an ultra-high-stakes poker player with tens of millions of dollars in winnings but a staggering gambling debt.

The secret side of Goldstein’s life was the focus of a six-week trial in a tax evasion case in Maryland. SCOTUSblog co-founder. His indictment A year ago, shockwaves were sent through the legal community in the nation’s capital, where Goldstein argued more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court before retiring in 2023.

As the trial wrapped up Wednesday, Justice Department prosecutor Sean Beaty told jurors that Goldstein was one of the smartest and most successful lawyers ever to argue a case before the high court.

“He’s not an idiot. He’s a deliberate tax evader,” Beaty said during closing arguments of the hearing.

Defense attorney Jonathan Kravis said the government rushed to judgment, “blindly” accepted an accountant’s “fabricated story” about Goldstein’s gambling activities and failed to adequately investigate the case.

“It’s not even close,” Kravis told jurors. “Tom Goldstein is innocent.”

U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby said she will instruct jurors on Thursday about the laws governing the case before they begin deliberating.

The “Spider-Man” star’s statement was also included in the hearing that started on January 12. Tobey Maguirean avid poker player who enlists Goldstein’s help to collect a billionaire’s gambling debt. Goldstein also took the stand and testified in his own defense.

A lawsuit was filed against Goldstein 16 countsIncluding charges of tax evasion and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Prosecutors say he failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars in gambling revenue; transferred money from law firm Goldstein & Russell to pay gambling debts; and incorrectly deducting gambling debts as a business expense.

“This was a textbook tax evasion scheme,” Beaty said. “And Mr. Goldstein executed it almost flawlessly.”

Goldstein denied any wrongdoing and said he repeatedly instructed his law firm’s staff and accountants to accurately describe his personal expenses. In a 2014 email, he told a company employee that “we always play completely by the rules.”

His lawyer said Goldstein knew he should have paid more attention to his company’s finances and admitted to making “innocent mistakes” on his tax returns. But Kravis told jurors that he did not cheat on his taxes or knowingly make false statements on his tax returns.

“A mistake is not a crime,” he said.

Goldstein is also accused of lying to IRS agents and hiding his gambling debts from his accountants, employees and mortgage lenders. The indictment alleges that he excluded $15 million in gambling debts from his mortgage loan applications while he and his wife were looking for a new home in Washington, D.C., in 2021.

According to Beaty, Goldstein earned approximately $50 million from poker in 2016; this includes the nearly $22 million he earned in Asia. The tax evasion scheme “collapsed” when another gambler, who felt cheated by Goldstein, reported a 2016 debt to the attorney to the IRS, the prosecutor said.

The indictment also accuses Goldstein of using his law firm to improperly pay salaries and provide health insurance to four women with whom he dated or maintained romantic relationships between 2016 and 2022. Goldstein met three of the women on a “sugar daddy” dating website that connected men with young women seeking financial support. She met her fourth at a poker game where she was hired to work as a waiter and masseuse.

Prosecutors said the women faked jobs and did little or no work for Goldstein’s firm. The indictment alleges that he evaded taxes by treating women’s salaries and health premiums as business expenses.

Goldstein’s lawyers accused prosecutors for improperly presenting “horrific” evidence to grand jurors about his romantic relationships with women. A few days before Goldstein’s indictment last January, his lawyers accused Justice Department officials of rushing to file charges against Goldstein before the change of presidential administrations.

“This roving pursuit of crime appears to be driven largely by personal hostility toward Mr. Goldstein,” defense attorneys wrote. a letter It dates back 10 days before his first indictment.

Goldstein was part of the legal team representing Democrat Al Gore in his Supreme Court case related to the 2000 election won by Republican President George W. Bush. Goldstein wrote a guest article in November 2024 after learning he was under investigation but before he was charged. New York Times where he advocated ending criminal cases against Republican President Donald Trump.

“While this idea will cause pain to my Democratic friends, all lawsuits should be abandoned,” he wrote after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.

Prosecutors asked jurors to hear some of what Goldstein said recently New York Times Magazine about his own criminal case. Goldstein said his wife, who co-founded SCOTUSblog with him, knew nothing about his gambling or his relationships with other women.

“I had a completely separate life,” he told journalist Jeffrey Toobin.