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Criminal Justice

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein wins pretrial release after denying moving millions in crypto

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 13, 2025, 3:37 pm CST

SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein has won his pretrial release a second time after offering proof to contravene prosecutors’ claims that he moved millions of dollars in cryptocurrency while facing tax fraud charges.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan of the District of Maryland ordered Goldstein’s release Thursday after finding that the former U.S. Supreme Court litigator had plausibly denied the crypto allegations. Sullivan nonetheless imposed additional conditions on release to bar access to computers and internet-capable devices absent prior approval. Goldstein will also have to disclose all cryptocurrency wallets that he owns or to which he has access.

Bloomberg Law, Law360 and PokerNews have coverage.

Goldstein is a former “ultrahigh-stakes” poker player, prosecutors have said. In a Jan. 16 indictment, he was accused of understating gambling winnings and concealing cryptocurrency transactions on tax returns, using his boutique law firm to help cover his debts, putting women he was pursuing on the law-firm payroll, and failing to report money owed in debts and taxes when he applied for a mortgage.

Goldstein was arrested on Monday after federal prosecutors alleged that Goldstein violated the terms of his release by failing to disclose two cryptocurrency wallets. Prosecutors said Goldstein received $8 million in crypto through the wallets and sent another $6 million, all within the span of five days in February. The wallets were “unhosted,” which makes it impossible for prosecutors to subpoena a cryptocurrency exchange, a bank or a financial institution to learn the owner.

Prosecutors thought that Goldstein owned the wallets because of messages dating back to 2023 indicating that he had used them to transfer crypto. But Goldstein offered “a plausible explanation” that he had instructed others in the past to use the wallets in a way that benefited him, even though the wallets were never actually his, Sullivan said.

Lawyers from Munger, Tolles & Olson sought the release of Goldstein, their new client, in a Feb. 11 emergency motion. Attached to the motion were cellphone messages supporting Goldstein’s claim that he didn’t own the wallets.

“The government has made a mistake,” they wrote.

While Sullivan said he was no longer convinced, by clear and convincing evidence, that Goldstein violated the terms of his release, he is still “highly suspicious that Mr. Goldstein has used cryptocurrency while on conditions of release.”

“There is ample evidence that Mr. Goldstein has been and remains a sophisticated and frequent user of cryptocurrency for years,” Sullivan wrote. “He has used cryptocurrency—or directed others to use it on his behalf—to pay for everything from gambling losses to luxury watches for multiple women. … And it now even appears that Mr. Goldstein currently has cryptocurrency accounts—besides [the two wallets mentioned by prosecutors]—that he controls, and of which he did not inform his supervising pretrial services officer.”

Prosecutors had alleged that Goldstein transferred millions in cryptocurrency even as he claimed to be “destitute” in a bid to substitute properties owned by relatives as collateral to assure his future court appearances. Goldstein didn’t want to use the home that he owns with his wife, SCOTUSblog co-founder and reporter Amy Howe.

Goldstein had referenced a pretrial services report that said he had a negative net worth of more than $3.3 million in a motion that he filed under his signature Feb. 5. Goldstein said he wanted to use the equity in his home to pay for his lawyers.

Yet one of Goldstein’s bank accounts has a balance of $250,000, and he has been spending $20,000 per month for an apartment in Dallas, $5,000 per month for a housekeeper, and $8,000 per month on a personal assistant, prosecutors said.

See also:

Indicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein can’t switch collateral, magistrate judge rules

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

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3. SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein accused…

Criminal Justice

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein accused of transferring millions in cryptocurrency after tax indictment

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 11, 2025, 9:55 am CST

A federal magistrate judge has concluded that SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein violated his conditions of release on tax fraud charges by failing to disclose the existence of two cryptocurrency wallets through which he allegedly received and sent millions of dollars in the currency.

Goldstein, a former U.S. Supreme Court litigator and a high-stakes poker player, was arrested again Monday, report Law360, Bloomberg Law and Reuters.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan of the District of Maryland ordered Goldstein’s detention the same day, finding that prosecutors had produced clear and convincing evidence of the pretrial release violation.

Goldstein received more than $8 million in cryptocurrency and sent more than $6 million over the last five days, according to a prosecution motion unsealed Monday. The motion sought an arrest warrant and a revocation of the order authorizing Goldstein’s pretrial release.

Goldstein “presents an urgent risk of flight,” the motion said.

Prosecutors also alleged in a separate legal filing that Goldstein has instructed third parties, including potential witnesses, to destroy evidence that is relevant to the charges.

Goldstein said at a hearing Monday the cryptocurrency wallets did not belong to him, according to Law360.

“These are not my accounts,” he said after asked to be placed under oath. “I didn’t engage in these transfers.”

Goldstein was charged in a Jan. 16 indictment with understating gambling winnings on tax returns earned in “ultrahigh-stakes” poker matches while using his boutique law firm to pay debts and to pay women with whom he was involved or pursuing. He was also accused of failing to report money owed in debts and taxes when he applied for a mortgage.

The indictment includes allegations that Goldstein concealed cryptocurrency transactions on his tax returns.

One of the witnesses in the case is a California-based actor who hired Goldstein to collect a poker debt, prosecutors said. The government thinks that the actor will testify that Goldstein told him to pay his fee directly to a businessman to whom Goldstein owed money, which meant that the income was not captured in his firm banking records or reported on his tax returns.

At the same time that he most recently moved cryptocurrency, Goldstein claimed to be “destitute,” prosecutors said. Goldstein made the claim in a bid to substitute properties owned by relatives for the Washington, D.C., home that he owned with his wife, SCOTUSblog co-founder and reporter Amy Howe, as collateral to assure his future court appearances.

Goldstein had referenced a pretrial services report that said he had a negative net worth of more than $3.3 million in a motion that he filed under his signature Feb. 5. Goldstein said he wanted to use the equity in his home to pay for his lawyers.

Yet one of Goldstein’s bank accounts has a balance of $250,000, and he has been spending $20,000 per month for an apartment in Dallas, $5,000 per month for a housekeeper, and $8,000 per month on a personal assistant, prosecutors said.

The wallets said to have been recently used by Goldstein were “unhosted,” meaning that no cryptocurrency exchange, bank or financial institution controls access to the wallets, and there is no institution that can be subpoenaed for the owner’s identity, the government said.

But Goldstein allegedly revealed existence of the wallets to others.

Goldstein had identified one of the wallets to the CEO of a luxury travel company, and he had used it to send more than $73 million in cryptocurrency and receive more than $75 million in the currency since it was opened, according to prosecutors. There were no assets in the wallet at the time of Goldstein’s indictment.

Goldstein had used the second wallet to collect a poker debt of more than $242,000, prosecutors said.

Goldstein continues to maintain that he can’t afford the lawyers who had been representing him as “limited appearance” counsel, Sullivan said. Goldstein will be representing himself in the future, Sullivan said, after he was advised that “any type of hybrid representation (where he acts has his own attorney for some matters but has a lawyer act on his behalf for other matters) will not be permitted.”

See also:

Indicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein can’t switch collateral, magistrate judge rules

Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.

A lawyer known for handling high-profile cases and co-founding the popular Supreme Court news and analysis site SCOTUSblog has been indicted on federal tax evasion charges for allegedly failing to report millions of dollars that he won gambling in high-stakes poker matches, according to federal prosecutors. The attorney, Tom Goldstein, is also accused of using his former law firm’s assets to “satisfy” gambling debts.

“Between 2016 and 2022, Goldstein engaged in a scheme to evade the assessment of taxes, file false tax returns and fail to pay his tax obligations when they were due,” the Department of Justice alleges in Goldstein’s 22-count indictment filed in the District of Maryland last week.

Goldstein, 54, has been part of more than 40 cases in front of the Supreme Court, including the 2000 presidential election battle between Al Gore — his client — and George W. Bush. He co-founded SCOTUSblog with his wife, Amy Howe, in 2002 and stepped away from his old firm, Goldstein & Russell P.C., in 2023 after announcing that he was retiring.

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Judiciary

State chief justice with ‘millions of reasons’ to fire court employees can’t do so unilaterally, top Arkansas court says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 7, 2025, 3:37 pm CST

The Arkansas Supreme Court stepped in Friday, when the state’s new chief justice tried to fire nearly a dozen employees, including the director of the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts.

In a Jan. 3 administrative order, the state supreme court said Chief Justice Karen Baker can’t fire the director of the administrative office without the approval of a court majority. And the chief justice can’t fire other court employees, with the exception of her law clerks and administrative assistant, absent an order from the director of the administrative office, the state supreme court said.

The Legal Profession Blog, Law360, the Arkansas Advocate (via How Appealing), 4029TV.com and KARK.com have coverage.

The Arkansas Supreme Court rescinded Baker’s termination orders, calling the situation “unnecessary and unfortunate.”

The events giving rise to the order began Jan. 2, when Baker called to her office the chief of supreme court police and the director of the administrative office. During the meeting, Baker “confronted the director and police chief about their responses to Freedom of Information Act requests involving her,” the state supreme court said, without offering specifics.

Baker indicated that she had prepared letters to fire both officials but was unsure whether she would do so, the Arkansas Supreme Court said. The next day, Baker told the police chief that he was fired and tried to fire at least 10 administrative office employees, including the office director.

A fellow justice who learned of the attempt asked to meet with Baker about her decisions, but the chief justice refused. When asked why the employees were being fired, Baker said she had “millions of reasons,” the state supreme court said.

Some of the employees have pending human resources complaints against the chief justice “for recent incidents,” the Arkansas Supreme Court said. The state supreme court’s decision did not delve into the FOIA request that appeared to prompt the attempted firings.

But a December report by Talk Business & Politics said Baker had contacted the police chief after a reporter with Arkansas Business asked about surveillance footage purporting to show her entering the administrative offices.

“There better not be footage going around,” Baker reportedly said in a voicemail to the police chief. Baker later told Talk Business & Politics that she never entered locked offices, and she did not know whether the reporter had made a FOIA request for the footage.

A separate FOIA controversy concerned a fellow justice, Justice Courtney Rae Hudson.

Baker was the only dissenter when the state supreme court tossed a lawsuit by Hudson seeking to block release of emails to Arkansas Business that had been sent to her by the then-director of the state’s attorney ethics body, the Arkansas Office of Professional Conduct.

The emails, it turned out, “mostly concern operational matters at OPC, including an employee’s request for leave, a proposal for sizable raises for OPC staff, and a disagreement over whether the $195.50 purchase of an air fryer at Sam’s Club counted as a legitimate office expense,” according to an October story by the Arkansas Advocate.

The email clash in September prompted the state supreme court majority to refer Hudson and her lawyer to ethics regulators for investigation for “flagrant breaches of confidentiality” in the suit. Baker, in turn, referred the five-justice majority in the email case for disciplinary investigation.

Hudson did not participate in the email decision or in the Jan. 3 decision curbing the chief justice’s authority to fire employees.

Baker told KARK.com that the previous three chief justices had the power to hire and fire.

“As the first woman elected to be the chief justice for the state of Arkansas in the state’s history, I will accept no less authority than my predecessors have,” Baker told the broadcast station.

A Seattle-area mother previously accused of medical child abuse and subsequently cleared of any and all wrongdoing is now taking the fight to her former accusers in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

Sophie Hartman, on behalf of herself and her two minor children, accuses the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) and several other named defendants of battery, false imprisonment, fabrication of evidence, and other constitutional violations, according to the 71-page lawsuit obtained by Law&Crime.

“To defend against false medical accusations and a myriad of violations of professional standards, the Hartman family has spent millions of dollars on lawyers just to keep the family together and Sophie out of jail,” the complaint reads. “The actual harm to the family is vast and the spirit of subversion and hubris with which various defendants betrayed the Hartman family is shocking.”

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3. Dechert will pay millions of dollars to settle…

Law Firms

Dechert will pay millions of dollars to settle ‘hack-for-hire’ allegations stemming from ex-partner’s work

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 5, 2024, 10:54 am CST

Dechert has agreed to pay $3.8 million plus costs to settle claims in the United Kingdom that a former London partner conspired to hack and release the emails of a client’s opponent.

The costs have not yet been determined, but they are about $11 million, bringing the total to nearly $15 million, according to Farhad Azima, the aviation executive who said his email was hacked.

Law360 and Bloomberg Law have coverage.

A spokesperson for Azima told Law360 that he has also resolved his claims against the former partner, Neil Gerrard, as part of the U.K. settlement. But the settlement does not resolve Azima’s a RICO suit against Dechert and Gerrard in the United States, according to Bloomberg Law and Law360. A motion to dismiss that federal lawsuit is pending in the Southern District of New York.

Gerrard was global co-chair of Dechert’s white-collar and securities litigation practice before his retirement in 2020.

Azima has alleged that his emails were hacked and released to reporters in a bid to silence his complaints about human rights abuses by Dechert client Ras Al Khaimah, one of the United Arab Emirates. Azima alleges that he was the victim of a “massive hack-for-hire operation” orchestrated by Girardi, according to Law360.

Dechert said there was no admission of liability in connection with the U.K. settlement.