Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog founder indicted in MD on tax charges

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Tom Goldstein, one of the most successful Supreme Court lawyers and founder of the influential SCOTUSblog, was indicted on Thursday on charges of tax evasion, lying on mortgage applications and more.

According to the 22-count grand jury indictment in Maryland federal court, Goldstein was an “ultrahigh-stakes poker player, frequently playing in matches or series of matches in the United States and abroad and involving stakes totaling millions, and even tens of millions, of dollars.”

He allegedly used his boutique firm, Goldstein & Russell, to shield his winnings and pay his debts, as well as to pay and provide health insurance to “at least a dozen women” with whom he was pursuing intimate relationships, the indictment states.

He faces 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 of making a false statement on a loan application.

Goldstein, 54, of Chevy Chase and Washington, D.C., has argued before the Supreme Court 45 times, including on behalf of Al Gore in the 2000 election case Bush v. Gore, and on behalf of Google in a copyright case against Oracle in 2020. His profile on SCOTUSblog states only three private-practice lawyers in modern history have argued more cases in the Supreme Court.

He retired from appellate practice in 2023.

He recently drew attention after the November election, when he argued in a New York Times column for an end to all of the criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump. “A central pillar of American democracy is that no man is above the law,” he wrote. “But Mr. Trump isn’t an ordinary man.”

Goldstein’s attorneys, Christopher Kise and John Lauro, have each represented Trump in some of his civil and criminal cases, according to The Washington Post.

“Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation,” they said in a statement, according to media reports. “We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts.”

Even though other lawyers at the firm held the title of “partner,” Goldstein was the sole owner and “oversaw and had final word on the operation and management of G&R,” the indictment states.

The firm allegedly didn’t have an accountant until 2013. “Limited record-keeping functions” were performed by an employee who was “typically a recent college graduate with no formal accounting and bookkeeping experience.”

After he hired the accounting firm, he repeatedly withheld key details about his poker career.

Goldstein allegedly borrowed millions of dollars to finance his gambling, often offering a cut of the winnings. Among the loans was $10 million from an unnamed California billionaire in 2014.

To make and receive gambling payments, Goldstein allegedly spent firm money with a personal bank account that no employees could access.

From 2016 to 2022, Goldstein allegedly paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to many women. They were “nominally” hired by the firm, but did little or no work.

In 2016, he allegedly used $1.1 million of the firm’s money to pay his gambling debts and falsely understated his winnings by $3.9 million on tax forms.

Prosecutors also allege that in 2021, Goldstein lied on mortgage applications as he sought to purchase a $2.6 million house in Washington, D.C. He obtained a $1.98 million loan after omitting $14 million in gambling debt, plus taxes he owed to the IRS.