SCOTUSblog Founder Tom Goldstein Faces Tax Evasion Charges
Tom Goldstein, the founder and co-founder of SCOTUSblog, has been indicted on federal tax evasion charges. The 22-count indictment alleges that Goldstein schemed to evade taxes, file false tax returns, and fail to pay his tax obligations between 2016 and 2022.
According to the indictment, Goldstein, who is described as an “ultrahigh-stakes poker player,” used millions of dollars from his boutique law firm, Goldstein & Russell, to pay personal debts, including gambling debts. He also underreported his gambling winnings by millions of dollars.
The indictment further alleges that Goldstein was involved in intimate relationships with at least a dozen women and created “sham employment arrangements” for several of them. He allegedly transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to them for travel and other expenses and hired them as employees at his firm, despite them performing little to no work.
The indictment also details Goldstein’s alleged involvement in various other activities, including winning millions of dollars in poker games, incurring millions of dollars in gambling debts, and making large cash transactions. He is accused of hiding his financial activities by misclassifying personal expenses as business expenses, falsifying financial documents, and making false statements on mortgage loan applications.
Goldstein has hired lawyers John Lauro and Christopher Kise to represent him, and a statement from his legal team said that he intends to “vigorously contest these charges” and expects to be exonerated at trial.