A prime US Supreme Court docket (SCOTUS) lawyer was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for reportedly failing to report thousands and thousands in poker winnings and diverting authorized charges to pay for his private poker money owed.
Tom Goldstein, who in accordance with CNBC has appeared earlier than the Supreme Court docket “extra occasions than practically another lawyer in non-public apply in trendy occasions,” was charged in Maryland with tax evasion, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to 2 separate mortgage lenders.
Poker Enjoying Legal professional in Scorching Water
In response to the indictment, Goldstein was a high-stakes poker participant between 2016 and 2024 and was “steadily enjoying in video games involving thousands and thousands of {dollars}.” Throughout this time, he “allegedly engaged in a scheme to evade his taxes” by diverting authorized charges from his legislation agency, Goldstein & Russell, P.C., to his private checking account and utilizing them to pay poker money owed.
He additionally allegedly used legislation agency property to pay private poker money owed by falsely classifying them as “legal-fee” bills and “utilizing agency property to pay salaries and medical insurance premiums for folks with whom Goldstein had a private relationship however who carried out little or no work for the legislation agency and didn’t qualify for its medical insurance.”
“Goldstein additionally allegedly didn’t report, or falsely understated, thousands and thousands of {dollars} of playing winnings on his tax returns,” the US Legal professional’s Workplace District of Maryland stated in a press launch. “As well as, for 2016 by means of 2021, besides 2018, Goldstein allegedly didn’t pay the taxes he self-reported had been due on his returns, whereas concurrently spending thousands and thousands of {dollars} on private bills corresponding to playing money owed, journey, trip leases, and luxurious items.”
Goldstein, who co-founded the favored SCOTUSblog, represented Vice President Al Gore in his dispute within the 2000 election in one of the crucial essential Supreme Court docket instances in of the twenty first century. He has taught at Harvard Legislation Faculty and Stanford Legislation Faculty.
Take a look at the complete indictment right here.
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