As some of the established and revered non-public legal professionals within the nation, Tom Goldstein spent a lot of the previous decade showing earlier than the US Supreme Courtroom (SCOTUS) and writing for a outstanding authorized weblog that he co-founded.
In the identical time interval, Goldstein performed in “ultra-high-stakes” heads-up poker matches from Beverly Hills to Asia, beating three gamers out of a mixed $50 million and later ending up down over $14 million. He flew from Hong Kong to Washington, D.C. with a duffel bag of $968,000 in money. He helped a Hollywood actor get better $7.8 million in poker winnings from a Texas billionaire who refused to pay out.
And now, federal officers are accusing him of evading earnings taxes from 2016 to 2022 and utilizing cash from his regulation agency to cowl his eight-figure poker losses.
The 22-count indictment issued Thursday by the US Legal professional’s Workplace District of Maryland additional accuses Goldstein, who represented Vice President Al Gore in a landmark US Supreme Courtroom (SCOTUS) case that determined the 2000 election, of constructing false statements to mortgage lenders for the acquisition of a multi-million greenback residence and paying the salaries of ladies who he had a private relationship with however who did little to no work for his regulation agency, Goldstein & Russell, P.C (G&R).
Learn Extra About Goldstein’s Indictment
Profitable $50 Million in Heads-Up Matches
The indictment particulars Goldstein’s poker exercise starting in 2014, when he performed in high-stakes poker matches “involving stakes totaling tens of millions, and even tens of tens of millions, of {dollars}.” He financed these video games by promoting motion to unnamed high-stakes poker gamers and “borrowing tens of millions of {dollars}.”
In 2016, Goldstein performed a sequence of high-stakes heads-up matches towards “three ultra-wealthy people” and employed two skilled poker gamers to educate and stake him. (No people aside from Goldstein are recognized within the indictment.)
Goldstein gained $13.8 million in his first match towards “International Gambler-1” in Asia, which he adopted up in a second match towards “California Businessman-2” in Beverly Hills for $26.4 million. The new streak continued as Goldstein took “International Gambler-2” for $8.8 million in Asia in his third heads-up match.
It added as much as a $50.8 million revenue, or a median win charge of $660,000 per hour over 77 hours for Goldstein and his backers — a large sum that he allegedly did not report on his 2016 tax type.
The identical yr, Goldstein “was concerned in different heads-up and ring poker matches … during which he misplaced tens of millions of {dollars}.” To repay these money owed, Goldstein used funds from his regulation agency, Goldstein & Russell, P.C (G&R), a apply that allegedly continued for a number of years.
Over $14 Million in Poker Money owed
The subsequent yr’s nosebleed heads-up matches have been much less variety to Goldstein. He misplaced a sequence of matches towards “California Businessman-3” for a lack of round $10 million. Worst of all, Goldstein had 100% of his motion and was subsequently liable for absolutely overlaying his losses.
Federal officers allege Goldstein diverted authorized charges from G&R to cowl these losses with out the agency’s data via a sequence of wire transfers. Goldstein additionally allegedly contacted one other regulation agency and requested in the event that they have been thinking about investing within the matches with out disclosing that he was already down $10 million, which “falsely implied that the $500,000 ‘funding’ (Goldstein) was in search of was to fund a future match … slightly than to pay an present debt.”
Goldstein secured backers for later matches however general misplaced $16 million. By mid-2018, he nonetheless owed the California businessman $6 million and secured a promissory observe promising to pay the sum and curiosity again by Could 2020. He performed in different high-stakes matches with smaller swings, together with a 2019 match towards a California film producer leading to a $170,000 loss.
Goldstein additionally continued to fail to report winnings. In 2018, he flew from Hong Kong to Dulles Worldwide Airport with a duffel bag containing $968,000 in poker winnings, figuring out it as such to Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) officers however later claiming it as a “mortgage” in a 2020 telephone name with the Inner Income Service (IRS).
By 2021, Goldstein had greater than $14 million in poker money owed — $9.9 million to “California Businessman-1” and $4.5 million to “California Businessman-3” — and several other extra million owed in taxes. He acknowledged as a lot two years earlier in an e-mail to a authorized consultant of a lady threatening to sue him, stating that doing so can be “completely and completely pointless” as a result of he “owe[d] greater than $16 million privately” and had “a large tax lien.”
Regardless of his seven-figure tax invoice, federal officers allege Goldstein spent tens of millions on luxurious objects and private bills.
Serving to a Hollywood Actor Get Paid by Texas Billionaire
Different allegations towards Goldstein outlined within the indictment embrace falsely omitting his tax and poker money owed on two separate mortgage functions, which enabled him to acquire a virtually $2 million mortgage, and fascinating in poker-related cryptocurrency transitions with out disclosing them to the IRS.
For instance, he performed $8 million value of crypto transactions in 2021 however answered “no” on his tax varieties when requested about such transactions.
Goldstein additionally allegedly represented a Hollywood actor who gained over $15.6 million in a December 2019 poker match in Dallas towards a Texas billionaire who hadn’t paid out his losses by 2021. The actor owed Goldstein a charge of $500,000, which, as a substitute of going to Goldstein’s regulation agency, was despatched to “California Businessman-3” to pay down his debt.
The fees towards Goldstein carry stiff penalties. He faces a most of 5 years in jail for every of the tax evasion expenses, three years for every depend of tax falsification, one yr for every depend of willful failure to pay taxes, and 30 years for each counts of constructing false statements to mortgage lenders. He additionally faces financial penalties and restitution.
The IRS Prison Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are helping the US Legal professional’s Workplace within the investigation.
Goldstein’s attorneys disputed the fees in a press release supplied to PokerNews.
“Mr. Goldstein is a outstanding lawyer with an impeccable fame,” wrote John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental. “We’re deeply dissatisfied that the federal government introduced these expenses in a rush to judgment with out understanding all the necessary information. Our consumer intends to vigorously contest these expenses and we anticipate he will likely be exonerated at trial.”
Wild Play & In depth Poker Historical past
Goldstein started enjoying poker in 2003 when Chris Moneymaker memorably gained a historic World Collection of Poker (WSOP) Essential Occasion that modified poker ceaselessly.
“I used to be a kind of individuals who simply bought caught up watching poker on ESPN,” Goldstein instructed The Washington Put up in 2008.
That yr, he gained a seat within the WSOP Essential Occasion and performed an 18-hour money recreation session on the Bellagio in Las Vegas that was documented in a Two Plus Two thread. Goldstein performed so crazily within the $25/$50 recreation that it caught the eye of poker execs Johnny Chan and Greg Mueller.
“I’ve by no means seen anybody play so recklessly and but crush the sport as Tom did,” wrote Two Plus Two consumer “88Orange.” “Tom would increase to $400 – $500 with out taking a look at his playing cards 19 out of 20 palms after which he would typically however not at all times guess, increase and name till the the ultimate card was put up on the board, when he would take a look at his playing cards for the primary time . . . *typically, he would guess all streets, together with HUGE – $30,000 river bets and on the finish of the hand, his opponent would say, ‘what do you’ve got?’ *He would typically reply, ‘Let’s discover out collectively’ . . . as a result of he nonetheless had not seen his playing cards! * You’d by no means know if on THIS hand, he had checked out his playing cards prematurely of betting.”
“Tom went from 12K to over 100K, again all the way down to about $20K after which again as much as over 100K. He ended with lower than that, however he ended with a win.”
Goldstein performed simply as recklessly 16 years later when he sat down anonymously within the Hustler On line casino Reside Million Greenback Sport. He infamously mucked the successful hand in a $540,000 pot at showdown, a hand that had the poker group confused as to what that they had simply witnessed.
Goldstein has represented poker gamers on a number of events. He served as counsel for the Poker Gamers Alliance in lobbying for the legalization of poker within the US forward of poker’s 2011 Black Friday scandal and represented fellow high-stakes participant Dan Bilzerian in a controversial 2014 case the place an grownup movie actress was injured throughout a promotional shoot.
Coincidentally, Bilzerian additionally claims to have gained upwards of $50 million in non-public poker video games.
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*Images courtesy WikiCommons
Connor Richards
Editor & Reside Reporter U.S.
