Stephen
Voss/Bloomberg
via
Getty
Images
Yesterday,
a
federal
jury
in
Maryland
convicted
the
SCOTUSblog
co-founder
on
12
of
16
counts
after
a
six-week
trial
befitting
the
wild
indictment
we
covered
last
January.
After
celebrity
testimony
and
constitutional
showdowns,
Goldstein’s
trial
ends
with
convictions
on
one
count
of
tax
evasion,
four
counts
of
willful
failure
to
timely
pay
taxes,
four
counts
of
aiding
in
the
preparation
of
false
tax
returns,
and
three
counts
of
making
false
statements
on
loan
applications.
Tom
Goldstein
argued
over
40
cases
before
the
Supreme
Court
and
co-founded
the
go-to
publication
for
live
doomscrolling
the
decline
and
fall
of
the
Constitution.
In
a
profession
that
doesn’t
breed
a
lot
of
celebrities,
Goldstein
worked
his
way
to
legal
royalty
through
pure
gumption
—
literally,
to
the
extent
it
included
a
stint
with
Akin
Gump
—
establishing
his
Supreme
Court
advocacy
street
cred
by
covering
the
Supreme
Court
for
the
National
Law
Journal
(under
then-NLJ
editor-in-chief
current
Above
the
Law
columnist
Bob
Ambrogi)
before
ultimately
establishing
SCOTUSBlog.
He
was
also,
unfortunately,
a
high-stakes
poker
player.
Raking
in
roughly
$50
million
in
winnings
in
2016
alone
—
including
$22
million
playing
in
Asia
—
Goldstein
kept
income
hidden
from
his
accountants,
the
IRS,
and
mortgage
lenders.
The
indictment
read
like
the
unauthorized
sequel
to
Rounders,
with
Mikey
finishing
law
school,
but
losing
it
all
because
he
can’t
stop
flying
to
Macao
to
play
Teddy
CCP.
Underground
poker
games,
duffel
bags
stuffed
with
nearly
a
million
in
cash
at
the
border,
firm
money
diverted
to
cover
personal
gambling
debts,
and
a
24-page
poker
strategy
memo
which
is
the
most
lawyer-ass
allegation
in
this
whole
story.
Billionaire
Alec
Gores
testified
about
losing
$26.4
million
to
Goldstein
in
heads-up
matches.
Rick
Salomon
of
Paris
Hilton
sex
tape
fame
testified
about
the
Asia-Pacific
poker
scene.
And
Tobey
Maguire
told
jurors
about
hiring
Goldstein
to
recover
a
$7
million
poker
debt
from
a
Texas
businessman.
Even
Spider-Man
needs
a
lawyer
sometimes.
DOJ
prosecutor
Sean
Beaty
told
the
jury
it
was
a
“textbook
tax-evasion
scheme”
that
Goldstein
“executed
nearly
flawlessly.”
Which
seems
like
an
overstatement
given
how
it
epically
unraveled.
The
scheme
apparently
unraveled
when
a
disgruntled
fellow
gambler
ratted
him
out
to
the
IRS
over
a
2016
debt.
Et
tu,
California
Businessman-1?
Goldstein
took
the
stand
in
his
own
defense,
acknowledging
that
he
should
have
paid
more
attention
to
his
taxes
and
law
firm
finances,
but
insisted
there
was
no
criminal
intent.
His
defense
attorney
Jonathan
Kravis
of
Munger
Tolles
argued
this
was
all
about
“innocent
mistakes”
and
accountants
who
committed
a
—
to
quote
the
defense
—
“catastrophic
f***-up.”
“A
mistake
is
not
a
crime,”
Kravis
told
the
jury.
The
jury,
having
heard
six
weeks
of
evidence
about
secret
poker
ledgers,
luxury
watches,
Bentleys,
hidden
gambling
debts,
and
diverted
law
firm
funds,
apparently
disagreed.
Goldstein
also
allegedly
omitted
$15
million
in
gambling
debts
from
mortgage
applications
while
house-hunting
in
D.C.
with
his
wife.
Kravis
argued
his
client
left
the
debts
off
“because
he
wanted
to
keep
them
secret
from
his
wife.”
The
defense
that
“you
can’t
spell
mens
rea
if
men…
are
just
lying
to
their
wives”
did
not
prove
persuasive
to
the
jury.
The
whole
saga
also
dragged
in
Jeffrey
Toobin,
who
co-authored
a
New
York
Times
Magazine
profile
of
Goldstein
in
December
because
—
in
a
move
that
probably
took
ten
years
off
the
lives
of
his
defense
attorneys
—
Goldstein
sat
for
an
on-the-record
interview
while
facing
trial.
The
government
reached
a
deal
that
spared
Toobin
having
to
testify.
Goldstein
faces
a
maximum
of
five
years
on
the
tax
evasion
count
and
up
to
30
years
on
the
false
loan
statement
counts,
but
it’s
hard
to
imagine
the
value
of
a
lengthy
jail
sentence
for
a
nerdy
appellate
lawyer.
Tax
evasion
is
serious,
but
wasting
taxpayer
resources
to
keep
Goldstein
in
prison
doesn’t
seem
like
much
of
an
answer.
Just
conscript
him
to
take
down
Le
Chiffre
on
behalf
of
the
government
and
call
it
good.
If
the
indictment
came
off
as
a
wild
and
lawyerly
edition
of
“Behind
the
Music,”
we’ve
moved
on
from
the
“But
Storm
Clouds
Were
Gathering”
chapter
and
are
squarely
entering
the
“Where
Are
They
Now?”
segment.
And
we’ll
find
out
soon.
Earlier:
SCOTUSblog
Founder
Indicted
In
Wild
Poker-Fueled
Tax
Case
Tom
Goldstein
Called
Government’s
Bluff
And
Now
Jeffrey
Toobin
Has
To
Litigate
It
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
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and
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healthy
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college
sports
news.
Joe
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Managing
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Search.