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The clock is ticking for high-profile lawyer Tom Goldstein, who is set to stand trial at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, this week.
Reuters reported that jury selection began earlier today, with the trial expected to commence this week and run for 3-4 weeks.
Goldstein faces a 22-count indictment over federal tax evasion charges, which include filing false tax returns by failing to report millions of dollars he won in poker games, as well as improper payments through his law firm and falsifying information on mortgage applications. If convicted on the most serious charges, he will face jail time.
Meanwhile, Goldstein maintains the errors in his tax returns were the cause of shoddy work by his bookkeepers and accountants.
Prior to his indictment, Goldstein was a prominent Supreme Court lawyer who, along with his wife and business partner, Amy Howe, founded the popular SCOTUSblog in the early 2000s.
Goldstein Lived a Secret, Double Life
Goldstein stepped away from his firm in 2023, citing a disillusionment with the Supreme Court and a desire to pursue other business interests.
As it turns out, Goldstein had been living a double life as an ultra-high-stakes poker player.
The indictment alleges that for years, Goldstein lived a lavish, globe-trotting lifestyle that included playing in some of the world’s biggest poker games, winning and losing millions of dollars in the process.
The issue, according to prosecutors, is that Goldstein failed to report his poker winnings on his taxes and co-mingled money from his law firm. In addition, Goldstein allegedly had several extra-marital affairs, and some of the women were put on his law firm’s payroll without doing work. Some of those charges have already been thrown out, however.
It all sounds like something from a movie script, which is a shocking turn of events for the groundbreaking lawyer, who has represented mega-cap companies like Google, Nike, and Epic Games.
From Watching Poker on ESPN to Heads-Up Battles for Millions
The New York Times profiled Goldstein in a lengthy, in-depth feature at the end of last year, where the embattled lawyer talked openly about his gambling and infidelities but maintained his innocence.
He also discussed how he became involved in the world of high-stakes poker. As it turns out, like many poker fans, he learned about the game when ESPN began broadcasting poker in the early 2000s. He told the Times:
I loved watching [poker]. I think of it as a pretty intellectual thing. Actually, I like it because what poker is, fundamentally, is management of luck and management of risk.
Goldstein quickly picked up the rules, and before long, he was playing in home games in New York and Washington with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.
That was just the tip of the iceberg for Goldstein, who would become involved with some of the world’s heaviest poker players and eventually participated in games where tens of millions of dollars were at stake.
His wild and aggressive style allegedly contributed to his success in heads-up competitions, but he struggled in more conservative ring games. Even Goldstein’s considerable wealth couldn’t sustain his play at those stakes, and he began to get creative in his pursuit of funds. He took loans from business associates, and, the prosecutors allege, his own law firm.
During this time, Goldstein misled his wife and friends about how much he was gambling, so it came as a shock when the initial indictment came down in early 2025.
At the very least, there should be no shortage of drama when the case finally goes to trial this week.
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