Tom Goldstein, who writes for SCOTUSblog.com, poses for a photo in front of the Supreme Court, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Washington.
Alex Brandon | AP
A senior Supreme Court lawyer who co-founded a popular Supreme Court blog was indicted Thursday in Maryland on federal tax evasion charges that allege he failed to declare millions of dollars in poker winnings and used money from his law firm to pay off his gambling debts.
SCOTUS blog publisher Tom Goldstein, who is also accused of making false statements to two mortgage lenders, has appeared before the Supreme Court more times than almost any other lawyer in private practice in modern times.
Goldstein, 54, has taught at Harvard Law School and was one of several lawyers who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, which blocked a recount in Florida’s disputed presidential election. year 2000. He has also successfully represented Google in the Supreme Court in the case where its use i The burden Android software code was accused of violating US copyright law.
In November, Goldstein wrote a guest essay in the New York Times calling for an end to the criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump.
Goldstein also has been “a very high-stakes power player, often playing in matches or series of matches in the United States and abroad involving stakes running into the millions, even tens of millions of dollars,” according to the 22-count indictment. against him. in the US District Court of Maryland.
The indictment says he diverted legal fees owed to his Bethesda, Maryland, law firm, Goldstein & Russell, to pay his poker-related debts.
The indictment also alleges that from 2016 to 2022, Goldstein engaged in or pursued intimate relationships with at least a dozen women, and paid travel and other expenses for many of them while owing “substantial amounts of money to the Internal Revenue Service of the Interior”.
Four of those women were allegedly employed by his firm and paid health benefits while performing “little or no work for the firm,” the indictment alleges.
Goldstein, who co-founded SCOTUSblog with his wife, Amy Howe, in 2002, told Reuters news service in early 2023 that he was ending his law practice and retiring from his firm, which then it is renamed.
Goldstein’s attorneys, John Lauro and Christopher Kise of Continental, said in a statement to CNBC: “Mr. Goldstein is an outstanding attorney with an impeccable reputation. We are deeply disappointed that the government hastily brought these charges to judged without understanding all the important facts”.
“Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect him to be vindicated at trial,” the lawyers said.
The indictment says Goldstein used more than $1.1 million in firm funds to pay personal debts in 2016, including gambling debts to poker players.
He also allegedly understated his gambling winnings by more than $3.9 million on his 2016 federal tax return and omitted more than $3.4 million in gambling income on his 2017 tax return.
Goldstein also allegedly “submitted false mortgage applications to two separate mortgage lending companies, seeking financing to purchase a $2.6 million home in Washington, DC” in 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland.
“For those mortgage applications –” which required Goldstein to list all of his liabilities and debts — Goldstein allegedly discharged millions of dollars in liabilities, including over $14 million owed at the time on two promissory notes, as well as the taxes he owed. to the IRS,” the office said. “Goldstein’s false statements to one of the mortgage lenders allegedly resulted in her obtaining a $1.98 million loan.”
An October 2008 Washington Post article about Goldstein’s poker playing quotes him as saying, “I was one of those people who just got caught watching poker on ESPN” and notes that he beat 130 players earlier that year to win a spot in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
“It only lasted two days,” Post noted. But during a break from the tournament, the soft-spoken plaintiff made a name for himself in an 18-hour cash game at the Bellagio: Goldstein started with a $12,000 stack of chips and raised it to more than $100,000, winning and losing hands. with more than $70,000 in the pot.”
