Supreme Court litigator Thomas Goldstein convicted in tax-evasion case

Body

A federal jury convicted Supreme Court litigator Thomas Goldstein on Wednesday, finding him guilty on 12 of 16 counts after a six-week trial in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Associated Press reported. Jurors deliberated for about two days before returning the verdict, according to the AP’s account of the case.

Prosecutors said the charges stemmed from Goldstein’s gambling income and his approach to taxes while he lived as an ultra-high-stakes poker player. The government alleged he failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars in gambling earnings and that he used funds from his law firm to cover gambling debts while making false statements tied to those debts.

According to prosecutors, the jury convicted Goldstein of one count of tax evasion and of multiple counts involving alleged preparation of false tax returns and willful failure to pay taxes on time. The AP said jurors also found him guilty of three counts of false statements on loan applications.

Goldstein has been a prominent figure in Supreme Court litigation and co-founded SCOTUSblog, which he helped operate as a blog about the court. The AP said Goldstein argued more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court before retiring in 2023, and that he was part of the legal team that represented Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 election dispute later won by Republican President George W. Bush.

In closing arguments, Justice Department prosecutor Sean Beaty told jurors that Goldstein “lied to everyone around him,” according to the AP. Beaty also described the conduct as a “textbook tax-evasion scheme,” saying it “fell apart” after another gambler, feeling cheated, notified the IRS about a 2016 debt owed to Goldstein, the AP reported.

The AP reported that Beaty said Goldstein raked in about $50 million in poker winnings in 2016, including roughly $22 million from winnings earned playing in Asia. Prosecutors also accused Goldstein of diverting money from his law firm to pay gambling debts and of falsely deducting gambling debts as business expenses.

Defense attorney Jonathan Kravis argued in court that the government pushed too quickly to a judgment. Kravis told jurors Goldstein made “innocent mistakes” on his tax returns, but did not cheat on his taxes or knowingly make false statements on his tax returns, and he said “A mistake is not a crime,” the AP reported. Kravis also said Goldstein’s testimony reflected his assertion that he instructed his firm’s staff and accountants to correctly characterize personal expenses.

The AP said Goldstein testified in his own defense and denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors alleged that he lied to IRS agents and hid gambling debts from people including his accountants, employees and mortgage lenders.

One example cited in the AP story involved a $15 million gambling debt. The AP said Goldstein omitted that debt from mortgage loan applications while looking for a home in Washington, D.C., with his wife in 2021, according to the indictment.

The trial also included testimony from actor Tobey Maguire, who is described in the AP report as a poker player who enlisted Goldstein’s help in recovering a gambling debt from a billionaire. The AP said Maguire’s testimony was part of a case prosecutors said reflected long-running secrecy around Goldstein’s gambling life and the financial reporting connected to it.