Today's entire article will be devoted to a person named Tom Goldstein, who is a 54-year-old Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) lawyer and co-founder of the legal blog SCOTUSblog. He is also the founder of the law firm Goldstein & Russell, PC and became most famous in 2000 when he represented U.S. Vice President Al Gore in the Florida presidential election recount dispute between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
In Maryland, Tom was charged with federal tax evasion, and the indictment alleges that he failed to declare millions of dollars in poker winnings. At the same time, he should have used his law firm's money to pay off his gambling debts.
Goldstein faces a total of 22 counts in the indictment, which includes such acts as allegedly making false statements to mortgage lenders, buying a multimillion-dollar house and paying wages and health insurance to women with whom he had a personal relationship but who did not work for his law firm. The indictment alleges that he willfully failed to pay more than $5.3 million in taxes for the years 2016 through 2021.
What exactly was supposed to happen?
The indictment details Goldstein's poker career since 2014, when he allegedly played in high-stakes cash games involving bets worth tens of millions of dollars. He financed these games by selling shares to high stakes poker players and lending millions of dollars. In 2016, he allegedly played a series of high stakes heads-up tournaments against three ultra-rich players, and he also hired two professional poker players to coach him.
Goldstein was alleged to have won two heads-up tournaments against two unknown players in Asia, earning a total of $22.6 million. He was then to follow that up with a heads-up tournament in Beverly Hills against an unknown California businessman, where he was to win another $26.4 million. In total, the report states, he was to win more than $50.8 million in heads-up battles.
The next year, he was to continue the heads-up matches, and while he had sold some of the stock the previous year, the following year he was playing all for his money. Here, however, he had already allegedly lost a total of $16 million and owed $6 million to an unknown businessman. Federal officials further allege that Goldstein diverted legal fees from his law firm to cover those losses through a series of wire transfers. He also allegedly contacted another law firm and asked if they would be interested in investing in his tournaments without admitting to them that he had already lost $10 million at the time. He should have falsely claimed that the $500,000 investment he was seeking was to fund a future tournament. In reality, however, it was to cover his existing debts.
Goldstein allegedly failed to report any of his poker winnings to the IRS. Thus, in 2021, he should have owed several million more to the IRS. Federal officials say Goldstein spent millions more on luxury items and personal expenses. Other allegations against Goldstein include falsely omitting his tax and poker debts on two mortgage applications, which allowed him to get a loan for nearly $2 million. He allegedly made $8 million worth of crypto-transactions in 2021, but stated on his tax documents that he made no such transactions.
Goldstein faces a maximum of 5 years in prison for each count of tax evasion, 3 years for each count of tax forgery, 1 year for each count of willful failure to pay taxes, and 30 years for both counts of making false statements on a mortgage application. He also faces monetary penalties and restitution. Goldstein is represented by John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental. Both of his lawyers have also represented U.S. President Donald Trump.
His lawyers said of the case, "We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the relevant facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect that he will be exonerated in court."
Tom also appeared in the Hustler Casino Live Million Dollar Game, where he ran a completely frivolous game that included losing a 540,000 pot. Goldstein has also represented his friend Dan Bilzerian in the past. Dan also referred to him in his autobiography, where he said, "To this day, I have never met anyone who had less respect for money, in direct proportion to their net worth, than Tom." In the book, Dan also mentioned a $385,000 bet he made with Tom. It was whether Tom in his Ferrari 458 or Dan in his 1965 A/C Cobra would win the quarter-mile race. Dan Bilzerian won that bet.
Tom Goldstein has now been banned from traveling outside of Washington DC, has had to surrender his passport, is prohibited from consuming alcohol, possessing a firearm, and engaging in any type of gambling, including live or online poker.
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Source - pokernews, vip-grinders, cnbc.com, reuters.com