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Criminal Justice

Poker-playing SCOTUSblog founder has net worth of negative $3.3M, criminal court document says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 6, 2025, 3:21 pm CST

A U.S. magistrate judge wrongly concluded that SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein could finance his defense in a tax evasion case with his bank accounts, the former U.S. Supreme Court litigator asserted in a court filing Wednesday.

Goldstein currently has a negative net worth of more than $3.3 million, according to a pretrial services report that Goldstein cited in a Feb. 5 motion.

Law360, Bloomberg Law and PokerNews have coverage.

Among the allegations in Goldstein’s Jan. 16 indictment are that he schemed to understate gambling winnings on tax returns that he earned in “ultrahigh-stakes” poker matches while using his boutique law firm to pay debts.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan of the District of Maryland had required Goldstein to use his marital home as collateral to guarantee his criminal court appearance while rejecting the lawyer’s request last month to substitute property owned by family members.

Goldstein wants to tap the equity in his marital home to fund his defense.The magistrate judge’s refusal to substitute properties violates his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, Goldstein said.

The substitute properties are worth more than the $3.2 million marital home when the outstanding $1.8 million mortgage is taken into account, the motion said.

Refusing to allow substitute collateral also prejudices Goldstein’s wife, “who all agree is an entirely innocent party,” Goldstein wrote. Goldstein is married to SCOTUSblog co-founder and reporter Amy Howe.

In addition, Goldstein wrote, “The magistrate judge’s conclusion that Mr. Goldstein might flee—and strip his closest family members of by far their most significant assets—is not supported by the record,” including a pretrial services report that recommended no secured bond.

Goldstein described himself as “a deeply respected member of the bar who practiced at the highest levels for decades.”

Bloomberg Law reports he argued 45 cases before the Supreme Court before he retired in 2023.

The indictment also accuses Goldstein of failing to report cryptocurrency transactions, using his firm’s money to pay women he was pursuing or with whom he was involved, and failing to report money owed in debts and taxes when he applied for a mortgage.

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3. Lawyer awarded $3.3M after crashing snowmobile…

Verdicts & Settlements

Lawyer awarded $3.3M after crashing snowmobile into negligently parked Army helicopter

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 26, 2024, 2:28 pm CDT

A federal judge in Massachusetts has awarded $3.3 million in damages to a lawyer for injuries suffered when he crashed his snowmobile into a camouflaged U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter parked on a snowmobile trail at dusk.

U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni of the District of Massachusetts awarded damages to Massachusetts lawyer Jeffrey Smith in a Sept. 23 decision following a bench trial.

The Associated Press and Fox News have coverage.

Mastroianni found that the government was 60% responsible for the 2019 incident because it failed “to take any steps to protect against the obvious risk” that it created from parking the helicopter in the spot. Smith was 40% responsible for speeding and wearing tinted goggles at night, the judge said.

Mastroianni came up with the $3.3 million figure after reducing damages to account for Smith’s comparative negligence and to account for a settlement reached with the landowner. The judge also awarded $100,000 to Smith’s son and $150,000 to his minor daughter.

Smith “suffered life-changing injuries” from the crash in Worthington, Massachusetts, Mastroianni said. He had multiple broken bones, a puncture to his left lung, herniated discs and neurological damage. A neurosurgeon had testified that Smith’s nerves had been “pulled clean out of the spinal cord itself,” making breathing difficult and essentially robbing him of the use of his left arm.

Smith’s law practice suffered because of limited stamina and pain. His net earnings were $134,394 in 2018, before the incident. In 2022, after the incident, he had a net loss of $5,671 because of increased paralegal hours.

The helicopter crew had flown from New York to Worthington for night training before deployment to Afghanistan. The chief warrant officer chose the location to replicate what the crew would see in Afghanistan. He also chose the location so that he could meet and socialize with a friend who lived in the town.