Top SCOTUS Lawyer Indicted for Allegedly Hiding Millions in Poker Winnings, Debts

A top US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) attorney was indicted today by a federal grand jury for reportedly failing to report millions in poker winnings and diverting legal fees to pay for his personal poker debts.

Tom Goldstein, who according to CNBC has appeared before the Supreme Court “more times than nearly any other attorney in private practice in modern times,” was charged in Maryland with tax evasion, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to two separate mortgage lenders.

John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental, trial counsel for Goldstein, provided PokerNews with the following statement:

“Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation. We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial.”

SCOTUS Attorney in Hot Water

According to the indictment, Goldstein was a high-stakes poker player between 2016 and 2024 and was “frequently playing in games involving millions of dollars.” During this time, he “allegedly engaged in a scheme to evade his taxes” by diverting legal fees from his law firm, Goldstein & Russell, P.C., to his personal bank account and using them to pay poker debts.

He also allegedly used law firm assets to pay personal poker debts by falsely classifying them as “legal-fee” expenses and “using firm assets to pay salaries and health insurance premiums for people with whom Goldstein had a personal relationship but who performed little or no work for the law firm and did not qualify for its health insurance.”

“Goldstein also allegedly did not report, or falsely understated, millions of dollars of gambling winnings on his tax returns,” the US Attorney’s Office District of Maryland said in a press release. “In addition, for 2016 through 2021, except 2018, Goldstein allegedly did not pay the taxes he self-reported were due on his returns, while simultaneously spending millions of dollars on personal expenses such as gambling debts, travel, vacation rentals, and luxury goods.”

Goldstein, who co-founded the popular SCOTUSblog, represented Vice President Al Gore in his dispute of the 2000 election in one of the most important Supreme Court cases of the 21st century. He has taught at Harvard Law School and Stanford Law School.

Check out the full indictment here.

Goldstein Played in Hustler Million Dollar Game

Goldstein was the mystery poker player known only as “Thomas” who took part in last year’s Hustler Casino Live Million Dollar game, PokerNews learned from someone familiar with the game.

During the high-stakes game that attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers, Goldstein played an infamous hand where he rivered a straight and mucked the winning hand to surrender a $540,000 pot.

_{*Image courtesy Peabody Awards/WikiCommons}

Connor Richards is an Editor & Live Reporter for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for two Global Poker Awards for his writing.

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