Supreme Court litigator will get jail for tax evasion case after playing on poker

WASHINGTON — A distinguished Supreme Court litigator was sentenced on Friday to 6 years in jail for evading a multimillion-dollar IRS tax debt and interesting in mortgage fraud, a case that forged a highlight on his secretive way of life as a high-stakes poker participant and featured trial testimony from a Hollywood film star.

Thomas Goldstein, who additionally revealed a preferred weblog in regards to the nation’s highest court docket, had requested U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby to spare him from a jail sentence. Instead, the decide sentenced Goldstein to 5 years of supervised launch after his jail time period and ordered him to pay over $3.1 million in restitution, in line with a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland.

Goldstein, 56, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, co-founded SCOTUSblog and argued over 40 circumstances earlier than the Supreme Court earlier than retiring in 2023 at age 52. He was a member of Democrat Al Gore’s authorized group within the Supreme Court litigation over the 2000 election in the end received by Republican President George W. Bush.

Many pals and colleagues didn’t know the extent of Goldstein’s playing till his January 2025 indictment, which despatched shock waves by the authorized group in Washington, D.C.

A jury discovered Goldstein responsible of 12 of 16 counts, together with eight felonies, after a six-week trial that resulted in February. Jurors convicted him of 1 rely of tax evasion, 4 counts of aiding and helping within the preparation of false tax returns, 4 counts of willfully failing to pay taxes and three counts of mortgage fraud.

The trial in Greenbelt, Maryland, included testimony by “Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire, an avid poker participant who enlisted Goldstein’s assist in recovering a playing debt from a billionaire.

Prosecutors really helpful a jail sentence of simply over eight years for Goldstein. They say he hid greater than $25 million in revenue between 2016 and 2023, depriving the federal authorities of over $9.5 million in unpaid taxes.

“His motivation was singular: pure, unrelenting greed,” prosecutors wrote. “Whether funneling gambling income through offshore bank accounts, shaving millions off his true law firm income, or lying to his lenders, Goldstein’s crimes always sought to advance and maintain his exorbitant lifestyle, replete with Bentleys, globe-trotting vacations, and a $200,000 watch.”

Goldstein’s attorneys argued that sparing him from jail would enable him to repay money owed and handle his extreme habit to playing. He maintains that his conduct, whereas self-destructive, wasn’t unlawful.

“He should be retiring with significant life savings or, if he wanted to, continuing to practice law at the highest levels,” defense lawyers wrote. “Instead, he has spent many years gambling with money he didn’t have, and gambling away money that he won, to the detriment of himself and his loved ones.”

Prosecutors say Goldstein diverted cash from his legislation agency to pay playing money owed and falsely deducting playing money owed as enterprise bills. Goldstein additionally was accused of mendacity to IRS brokers and hiding his playing money owed from his accountants, workers and mortgage lenders. He omitted a $15 million playing debt from mortgage mortgage functions whereas on the lookout for a brand new dwelling in Washington, D.C., together with his spouse in 2021, his indictment alleges.

Goldstein, who testified at his trial, mentioned he repeatedly instructed his legislation agency’s employees and accountants to accurately characterize his private bills. In a 2014 e mail, he informed a agency worker that “we always play completely by the rules.”

Goldstein spent years playing cash he didn’t have, his legal professionals say.

“He is not wealthy enough to sustain the losses of the billionaires he has played against, and he is not good enough at poker to win at the rate of professionals,” they wrote.

Prosecutors say Goldstein’s crimes had been motivated by “pure, uninhibited greed” and his “obvious disdain for the tax system.”

“We can and should expect more from every attorney and officer of the court — let alone one of Goldstein’s status,” they wrote.