The guy who runs SCOTUSblog
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Indicted on tax-evasion charges.
https://www.law360.com/articles/2285484
Tom Goldstein, a publisher of SCOTUSblog and one of the most experienced U.S. Supreme Court lawyers in the country, was indicted Thursday in Maryland federal court on charges he schemed to evade paying taxes for years and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.
The 22-count indictment — which describes Goldstein as an "ultrahigh-stakes poker player" whose games involved "stakes totaling millions, and even ten of millions of dollars" — alleges that between 2016 and 2022 he carried out a scheme to "evade the assessment of taxes, file false tax returns and fail to pay his tax obligations when they were due."
Goldstein's attorneys, John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental PLLC, said in an emailed statement that 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," they stated. "Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial."
Goldstein did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Goldstein allegedly used millions of dollars in funds from the boutique law firm that he formerly solely owned —Goldstein & Russell, in Bethesda, Maryland — to cover gambling debts and other personal debts and falsely understated his gambling winnings by millions of dollars in tax filings, according to the 50-page indictment.
"Goldstein willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 taxes when due, despite spending millions of dollars on personal expenses, including luxury purchases and payments to and on behalf of women," the indictment states. His unpaid income taxes allegedly total more than $5.3 million.
