Attorney Thomas Goldstein spent years rubbing shoulders with celebrities and billionaires playing the highest of stakes of poker, winning and losing tens of millions of dollars, and now he’ll spend years in Federal prison.
Goldstein was sentenced to six years in jail by a Federal judge Friday for tax and mortgage fraud, closing a chapter in the life of the prominent lawyer who argued in front of the Supreme Court 44 times.
Deemed a flight risk, he was ordered into custody immediately after sentencing.
“Thomas Goldstein built a distinguished legal career arguing that the rule of law matters. Yet, as the evidence at trial showed, he repeatedly chose to violate that very principle for his own financial benefit,” said U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland. “Every taxpayer is expected to play by the same rules, and this sentence shows that those who deliberately cheat the system and lie for financial gain will be held accountable. We thank our law enforcement partners for their work on this case, and their unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of our tax and financial systems.”
The Feds say Goldstein, who also ran SCOTUSblog.com when he wasn’t jetting around the world to play heads-up poker against men who have more money than poker sense, failed to pay $5.3 million in taxes from 2016-2021. He was also charged with lying on a mortgage application for $1.9 million.
Here’s how the Department of Justice described his crimes in a press release:
“Between 2016 and 2024, Goldstein repeatedly chose not to pay taxes on time, as required by law. He also assisted in the preparation of false tax returns for himself and his law firm, and he engaged in a scheme to evade taxes for 2016.
Goldstein carried out the scheme by hiding millions of dollars in poker winning from the government and his accountants, diverting legal fees to his personal bank account to satisfy poker-related debts, directing people to pay his creditors instead of sending payments directly to him, channeling gambling winnings through foreign bank accounts and causing personal payments for poker debts to be falsely classified as “legal-fee” expenses on the firm’s books and records.
As a result, Goldstein underreported his income and did not pay much of the taxes that he owed, while spending millions on personal expenses such as poker, travel, and luxury goods.”
The original indictment gave people a glimpse into just how much money is thrown around by these men of industry. The Government says that Goldstein won $13.8 million against an unnamed player in Asia in 2016, as well as $26.4 million during a session against Alex Gores, a man who became a billionaire by founding a private equity group.
Despite these enormous wins, he said he’s down at least $10 million. He reportedly loss $14 million during several heads-up matches against California real estate mogul Bob Safai, as well as $9 million in rings games in Las Vegas.
He also had an infamous appearance on Hustler Casino Live in a million dollar buy-in game in 2024 where he accidentally mucked the winning hand in a pot worth more than $500,000. He attempted to hide his identity by wearing a mask and a hoodie. In two days on the stream, he lost more than $2.7 million.
