A lawyer once synonymous with precision before the nation’s highest bench now faces a reckoning far from its marble columns.
A federal jury has convicted Tom Goldstein, a prominent Washington appellate attorney known for arguing more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, on a slate of tax and financial crimes linked to his parallel life as a high-stakes poker player.
After seven weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, jurors found Goldstein guilty on 12 of 16 criminal counts. The charges centered on allegations that he failed to report millions in gambling winnings, provided false information on mortgage loan documents, and facilitated improper payments through his former firm, Goldstein & Russell.
Goldstein had pleaded not guilty, arguing that any missteps stemmed from misplaced trust in accountants and advisers rather than criminal intent. On the stand, he acknowledged carelessness in reviewing tax filings and firm finances but insisted he never set out to break the law. Mistakes, he said, were his burden to bear — crimes were not.
Prosecutors painted a starkly different portrait: a seasoned legal tactician who understood disclosure obligations yet concealed substantial poker earnings and debts. They described a lifestyle funded by tournament windfalls — luxury watches, high-end cars, prime real estate — even as millions in taxes allegedly went unpaid.
At the heart of the trial was intent. Did Goldstein knowingly evade federal tax and lending laws, or was he negligent in overseeing a complex financial web built around global poker circuits? Jurors ultimately sided with the government on most counts, though they acquitted him on several charges tied to assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
The proceedings offered glimpses into the rarefied world where elite law and big-money poker intersect. Prosecutors said Goldstein netted more than $26 million during a single run of matches in late 2016. Testimony detailed private games, international travel, and financial maneuvering that blurred the lines between personal wagers and professional obligations.
Among those who took the stand was actor Tobey Maguire, known for his role in Spider-Man. Maguire testified that he retained Goldstein to recover over $7 million in an unpaid poker debt. The funds were eventually retrieved, and Goldstein directed that a $500,000 legal fee be routed through a third party — an arrangement scrutinized during the trial, though Maguire himself faced no allegations of wrongdoing.
Goldstein, who co-founded the influential legal news platform SCOTUSblog before stepping away from his practice in 2023, had long been a fixture in the Supreme Court bar — an elite circle of advocates who routinely argue cases of national consequence.
Now, instead of parsing constitutional questions, he awaits sentencing. He faces potential prison time on multiple fronts: tax evasion counts carry up to five years each, false statements to mortgage lenders up to 30 years, along with additional exposure tied to related offenses. The court is not bound to impose the maximum penalties.
For Washington’s legal community, the verdict lands with unusual force. A career built on mastering the fine print of federal law has unraveled over the fine print of personal finance — a cautionary tale about the perils of juggling two high-stakes arenas at once.
