Supreme Court Lawyer Indicted for Unreported Poker Winnings worth $50 Million

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 01/27/2025

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Lawyer Indicted for Unreported Poker Winnings

Tom Goldstein, one of the best Supreme Court lawyers in the country, has been indicted in a Maryland federal court for tax evasion, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to two mortgage lenders about high-stakes poker winnings.

One of the Most Established and Respected Lawyers

Goldstein is one of the most established and respected lawyers in the country. He has spent the past decade appearing in the Supreme Court and argued more than 40 cases. He is also the co-founder and publisher of SCOTUS, a blog offering news and analysis of the country’s highest court.

As a respected lawyer, Goldstein allegedly played in “ultra-high stakes” heads-up poker games from Beverly Hills to Asia during this time. It is said that he beat three players out of a combined $50 million and later ended up down over $14 million. Goldstein flew from Hong Kong to Washington, D.C. with a duffel bag of $968,000 in cash. He helped a prominent Hollywood actor recover $7.8 million in poker winnings from a Texas billionaire who hadn’t paid out.

There are reports that Goldstein was a mystery player, known only as “Thomas” in last year’s Hustler Casino Live million-dollar cash game. During the game, he accidentally mucked the winning hand in a pot worth $540,000 and lost $1.1 million overall.

Details About the Case

The indictment alleges that Goldstein concealed his wins and losses and misrepresented all his expenses. In addition, other allegations include failing to pay $5.3 million in taxes for the years 2016 to 2021.

Investigations show that in 2016, Goldstein won $13.8 million in Asia and another $26.4 million against a California businessman in Beverly Hills and never paid any taxes.

There are further arguments that Goldstein used legal fees paid to his law firm for his high-stakes poker games and to pay gambling debts. The indictment states that from 2016 to 2021, Goldstein had intimate relations with at least a dozen women and that he was using funds from the law firm to pay for travel expenses related to those relationships. Some of the women were even paid as company employees without having performed any work.

Denying the Allegations

Goldstein’s attorneys, John Lauro and Christopher Kise, said the government doesn’t have all the facts in the case and denied the allegations.

Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation,

the attorneys stated.

We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all the important facts. Our client intends to contest these charges vigorously, and we expect he will be exonerated at trial.