SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein faces tax evasion charges
SCOTUSBlog publisher and co-founder Tom Goldstein was indicted on federal tax evasion charges Thursday. (Photo by Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Updated: SCOTUSblog publisher and co-founder Tom Goldstein was indicted on federal tax evasion charges Thursday.
Between 2016 and 2022, Goldstein allegedly schemed to “evade the assessment of taxes, file false tax returns and fail to pay his tax obligations when they were due,” according to the indictment, which was filed in the District of Maryland. The 22-count indictment lists four counts of tax evasion; 10 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns; five counts of willful failure to pay taxes; and three counts relating to false statements on mortgage loan applications.
Law360 has coverage.
Goldstein was described as an “ultrahigh-stakes poker player” and allegedly took millions of dollars from his boutique law firm, Goldstein & Russell, to pay personal debts, including gambling debts, the indictment said. He also underreported his gambling winnings by millions of dollars.
Goldstein announced his retirement from his U.S. Supreme Court practice and his firm, which was in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2023. At the time, he cited the increasingly conservative balance of the court as one of the reasons.
He said he would continue to publish the blog that he co-founded, SCOTUSblog, which features reporting by his wife, Amy Howe, who’s also a co-founder.
Past ABA Journal coverage also noted that Goldstein is a “formidable” poker player who once won $100,000 in an 18-hour game at the Bellagio. In 2009, the Journal included Goldstein in its inaugural class of Legal Rebels.
According to the indictment, Goldstein also allegedly was involved in intimate relationships with a least a dozen women from 2016 to 2022, and he created “sham employment arrangements” for several of those women.
The indictment said he transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to them for travel and other expenses and to supplement those payments, he “hired” them as employees at his firm.
They received salaries and health insurance, despite performing little to no work for the firm, the indictment said.
Among the other details alleged in the indictment:
• In 2014, Goldstein approached a former client, a California-based billionaire, for a $10 million loan to support his gambling activities. The businessman “agreed to do so but required Goldstein to sign a promissory note memorializing the loan and Goldstein’s obligation to repay” and “by the end of 2022, Goldstein still owed more than $8.89 million.”
• In a series of poker games in Beverley Hills in 2016, Goldstein won $26,435,000. The same year he also lost millions, and sent $1,171,600 via wire transfers from the Goldstein & Russell bank accounts to satisfy “four gambling debt payments and two promissory note payments.” The firm manager was not told that these were personal debts, “resulting in those transfers being falsely classified as ‘Legal Fee[]’ expenses” of the firm.
• In 2017, Goldstein had a $250,000 legal fee owed by an unnamed law firm to Goldstein & Russell “in connection with G&R’s Supreme Court briefing in a securities class-action case” deposited to a personal bank account he used for gambling. According to the indictment, Goldstein did not have his firm manager prepare an invoice for the $250,000, and “he did not tell anyone at G&R or the accounting firm that he had diverted the G&R fee to his gambling account, or that he had used it to satisfy a personal poker debt.”
• Also in 2017, a second unnamed law firm and a named partner at that law firm agreed to “invest” $500,000 in return for a share of Goldstein’s winnings from a series of poker matches against a California businessman. However, “the overall result of the matches during that period was that Goldstein lost more than $16 million,” and the law firm demanded its $500,000 be returned. Payments were transferred to the law firm from the Goldstein & Russell accounts, but the Goldstein & Russell firm manager was not told they were personal gambling-related debts.
• After a 2018 trip to Macau, China, Goldstein landed at Dulles International Airport with a duffel bag holding $968,000 in cash. He told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that these were gambling winnings, but failed to report it as such on his 2018 taxes.
• In 2019, Goldstein represented a foreign gambler whom he had previously played poker against, “in connection with certain court proceedings in Macau.” He was paid $235,000 for that legal work, but when the money was deposited into his firm’s bank account, it “was not reported as legal fee income,” and Goldstein allegedly asked his accounts to make sure the money was “classified as a reduction to shareholder distributions.”
• During 2020 and 2021, Goldstein allegedly conducted some 280 cryptocurrency transactions worth more than $9.5 million. Despite this, on both years’ tax forms, he answered “no” when asked whether he had made any virtual currency transactions.
• In 2021, when applying for a mortgage for a $2.65 million home in Washington, D.C, Goldstein “falsely omitted more than $15,500,000 that he owed in personal debts and federal taxes.”
CNBC reports that Goldstein has hired attorneys John Lauro and Christopher Kise to represent him. Their other clients have included incoming President Donald Trump.
In a statement to CNBC, Kise and Lauro said: “Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation. We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial.”
An email sent by the ABA Journal to Goldstein’s SCOTUSblog address was returned as undeliverable.
Last updated at 8:27 p.m. to include Goldstein’s lawyers’ statement to CNBC.
