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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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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

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

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 30, 2025, 10:20 am CST

A federal magistrate judge has denied SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein’s request to switch collateral to avoid putting at risk the Washington, D.C., home that he owns with his wife, SCOTUSblog co-founder and reporter Amy Howe.

“The court finds that maintaining the Hawthorne Street property (the residence of Mr. Goldstein’s wife) as the property subject to forfeiture under the appearance bond … is necessary to reasonably assure that Mr. Goldstein will appear for all future proceedings in this case,” wrote Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan of the District of Maryland in a Jan. 29 order.

In a motion filed that same day, Goldstein had argued that he had to use equity in the Hawthorne Street home to pay his lawyers in the federal tax case against him.

Goldstein had asked the court to substitute South Carolina properties owned by his father, stepmother and half-sister, Law360 reports.

Goldstein is represented by John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental, lawyers who have also represented President Donald Trump, Bloomberg Law has reported. Stuart Berman of Lerch, Early & Brewer may be serving as local counsel, Lauro said when Goldstein pleaded not guilty to tax and loan fraud charges Monday.

Goldstein’s Jan. 16 tax indictment alleged that he schemed to understate gambling winnings on tax returns that he earned in “ultrahigh-stakes” poker matches, failed to report cryptocurrency transactions, used millions of dollars of his law firm’s money to pay gambling and personal debts, used firm cash to pay health insurance and salaries to women he was pursuing or with whom he was involved, and failed to report money owed in debts and taxes when he applied for a mortgage.

Goldstein was a U.S. Supreme Court litigator at Goldstein & Russell, the boutique firm that he owned until he announced in March 2023 that he was retiring from practice.

Goldstein is facing four counts of tax evasion, 10 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, five counts of willful failure to pay taxes, and three counts relating to false statements on mortgage loan applications.

Goldstein’s lawyers have said he is “a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation” who expects to be exonerated at trial.

Goldstein’s Jan. 29 motion also asked the judge to change the wording of his appearance bond, which allowed forfeiture of the home for failing to comply with conditions of release. Goldstein and his wife were concerned that the home could be forfeited based on a minor violation of release conditions.

One of the conditions of Goldstein’s release is that he refrain from gambling, including poker, PokerNews reports.

Sullivan agreed to the wording change. The appearance bond now requires forfeiture only if Goldstein fails to appear.

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Tax Law

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein faces tax evasion charges

By Amanda Robert and Lee Rawles

January 16, 2025, 3:58 pm CST

Updated: SCOTUSblog publisher and co-founder Tom Goldstein was indicted on federal tax evasion charges Thursday.

Between 2016 and 2022, Goldstein allegedly schemed to “evade the assessment of taxes, file false tax returns and fail to pay his tax obligations when they were due,” according to the indictment, which was filed in the District of Maryland. The 22-count indictment lists four counts of tax evasion; 10 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns; five counts of willful failure to pay taxes; and three counts relating to false statements on mortgage loan applications.

Law360 has coverage.

Goldstein was described as an “ultrahigh-stakes poker player” and allegedly took millions of dollars from his boutique law firm, Goldstein & Russell, to pay personal debts, including gambling debts, the indictment said. He also underreported his gambling winnings by millions of dollars.

Goldstein announced his retirement from his U.S. Supreme Court practice and his firm, which was in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2023. At the time, he cited the increasingly conservative balance of the court as one of the reasons.

He said he would continue to publish the blog that he co-founded, SCOTUSblog, which features reporting by his wife, Amy Howe, who’s also a co-founder.

Past ABA Journal coverage also noted that Goldstein is a “formidable” poker player who once won $100,000 in an 18-hour game at the Bellagio. In 2009, the Journal included Goldstein in its inaugural class of Legal Rebels.

According to the indictment, Goldstein also allegedly was involved in intimate relationships with a least a dozen women from 2016 to 2022, and he created “sham employment arrangements” for several of those women.

The indictment said he transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to them for travel and other expenses, and to supplement those payments, he “hired” them as employees at his firm.

They received salaries and health insurance despite performing little to no work for the firm, the indictment said.

Among the other details alleged in the indictment:

• In 2014, Goldstein approached a former client, a California-based billionaire, for a $10 million loan to support his gambling activities. The businessman “agreed to do so but required Goldstein to sign a promissory note memorializing the loan and Goldstein’s obligation to repay” and “by the end of 2022, Goldstein still owed more than $8.89 million.”

• In a series of poker games in Beverly Hills in 2016, Goldstein won $26,435,000. The same year, he also lost millions and sent $1,171,600 via wire transfers from the Goldstein & Russell bank accounts to satisfy “four gambling debt payments and two promissory note payments.” The firm manager was not told that these were personal debts, “resulting in those transfers being falsely classified as ‘Legal Fee[]’ expenses” of the firm.

• In 2017, Goldstein had a $250,000 legal fee owed by an unnamed law firm to Goldstein & Russell “in connection with G&R’s Supreme Court briefing in a securities class action case” deposited to a personal bank account he used for gambling. According to the indictment, Goldstein did not have his firm manager prepare an invoice for the $250,000, and “he did not tell anyone at G&R or the accounting firm that he had diverted the G&R fee to his gambling account, or that he had used it to satisfy a personal poker debt.”

• Also in 2017, a second unnamed law firm and a named partner at that law firm agreed to “invest” $500,000 in return for a share of Goldstein’s winnings from a series of poker matches against a California businessman. However, “the overall result of the matches during that period was that Goldstein lost more than $16 million,” and the law firm demanded its $500,000 be returned. Payments were transferred to the law firm from the Goldstein & Russell accounts, but the Goldstein & Russell firm manager was not told they were personal gambling-related debts.

• After a 2018 trip to Macau, China, Goldstein landed at Dulles International Airport with a duffel bag holding $968,000 in cash. He told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that these were gambling winnings, but failed to report it as such on his 2018 taxes.

• In 2019, Goldstein represented a foreign gambler whom he had previously played poker against, “in connection with certain court proceedings in Macau.” He was paid $235,000 for that legal work, but when the money was deposited into his firm’s bank account, it “was not reported as legal fee income,” and Goldstein allegedly asked his accounts to make sure the money was “classified as a reduction to shareholder distributions.”

• During 2020 and 2021, Goldstein allegedly conducted some 280 cryptocurrency transactions worth more than $9.5 million. Despite this, on both years’ tax forms, he answered “no” when asked whether he had made any virtual currency transactions.

• In 2021, when applying for a mortgage for a $2.65 million home in Washington, D.C, Goldstein “falsely omitted more than $15,500,000 that he owed in personal debts and federal taxes.”

CNBC reports that Goldstein has hired attorneys John Lauro of Lauro & Singer and Christopher Kise of Continental Attorneys-at-Law to represent him. Lauro and Kise have appeared in previous media coverage in connection with their representation of President-elect Donald Trump.

In a statement to CNBC, Kise and Lauro said: “Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation. We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges, and we expect he will be exonerated at trial.”

An email sent by the ABA Journal to Goldstein’s SCOTUSblog address was returned as undeliverable.

Last updated on Jan. 17 to correct a reference to John Lauro’s law firm.

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Criminal Justice

Former CFO at Tom Girardi’s law firm reaches plea deal, agrees to $3.1M forfeiture

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 10, 2024, 9:18 am CDT

The former chief financial officer at disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi’s law firm has reached a deal to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud that caused losses of at least $3.5 million.

Former CFO Christopher K. Kamon agreed to plead guilty, to forfeit $3.1 million and to pay restitution, report Law360 and the Los Angeles Times.

The agreement was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The plea deal follows Girardi’s August conviction for stealing $15 million from four personal injury clients at his now-collapsed firm, Girardi Keese, over the course of a decade.

Girardi, 85, was famous for his legal team’s portrayal in the film Erin Brockovich and for his marriage to Erika Girardi, who has appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV show. He is now living in an assisted living facility and has a dementia diagnosis. His lawyers are seeking to overturn the conviction for an alleged inability to understand trial proceedings, Law.com reports.

Kamon acknowledges that he worked with Girardi to defraud clients, and that he participated in a “side fraud” scheme involving fraudulent invoices.

A factual statement says Girardi typically called Kamon each morning and asked how much money was in the firm’s bank accounts, including its client trust accounts. When operating accounts were low, Girardi allegedly instructed Kamon to move money out of client trust accounts and label them as attorney fees, even when attorney fees had already been paid.

“This was a common practice at Girardi Keese of which other senior lawyers in the firm were aware,” the statement of facts said.

Sometimes settlement funds belonging to current clients in trust accounts were used to pay other clients whose settlement funds had been stolen, according to the statement of facts.

Kamon and federal prosecutors in Los Angeles disagreed on the amount of the loss. Kamon said the amount is at least $3.5 million and no more than $9.5 million. Prosecutors reserved the right to argue that the amount ranged from more than $9.5 million to less than $25 million.

Kamon did not agree to a particular prison sentence. Money collected from Kamon in the bankruptcy proceedings for Girardi Keese would be credited toward the forfeiture amount.

The potential maximum prison sentence is 40 years. The offenses also carry a potential fine equal to twice the gain or losses resulting from the offenses or the amount of $500,000, whichever is greater.

Kamon, Girardi and a third lawyer are facing separate charges in Chicago for allegedly stealing settlement money from five relatives of victims killed in an October 2018 plane crash.

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Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi is convicted for stealing $15M from clients

By Debra Cassens Weiss

August 27, 2024, 2:59 pm CDT

A disbarred lawyer famous for his legal team’s portrayal in the movie Erin Brockovich was convicted Tuesday for stealing $15 million from four clients over the course of a decade.

Federal jurors in Los Angeles convicted 85-year-old Tom Girardi on four counts of wire fraud after about four hours of deliberation that began Monday, Law360 reports.

The Daily Journal and an Aug. 27 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice also covered the verdict.

In closing arguments Monday, federal prosecutor Ali Moghaddas had contended that Girardi was running a classic Ponzi scheme because he used new client settlement money to pay off old clients and to fund a lavish lifestyle, according to Law360.

Girardi is the estranged husband of Erika Girardi, who has appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reality TV show. In the case portrayed in Erin Brockovich, Girardi was on the legal team that secured a $333 million settlement for groundwater contamination.

According to the DOJ press release, Girardi used $25 million from his now-collapsed law firm’s operating account to pay the expenses of an entertainment company formed by his wife. He also spent millions of dollars in firm funds on his private jet, jewelry, luxury cars and exclusive golf and social clubs, the press release said.

“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of Central District of California in the press release. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support … a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle. Today’s verdict shows that the game is up—we can all now see this defendant for what he was and the victims he callously betrayed.”

Girardi’s defense lawyers had contended that Girardi wasn’t responsible for financial problems at his firm, Girardi Keese, because of his dementia. A neurology professor had testified at trial that Girardi has such a small brain hippocampus that 98% of people likely have a larger one.

The defense had also argued that Girardi Keese’s former chief financial officer, Christopher Kamon, was responsible for the missing money. He is also charged in the California case.

Girardi Keese is no longer operating after being forced into bankruptcy. Girardi was disbarred in July 2022. Sentencing in the Los Angeles case is scheduled for Dec. 6.

Girardi, Kamon and another lawyer are also charged with stealing $3 million in settlement money in Chicago. Trial in that case is scheduled for March 2025.

See also:

Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi ‘didn’t seem all there’ in late 2020, ex-employee testifies in embezzlement trial

A reality TV personality is suing two other reality TV personalities over the recording and release of sexually explicit FaceTime videos, which allegedly went viral in service of fueling a lucrative scandal.

Rachel “Raquel” Leviss filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, accusing former couple Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix of revenge porn, eavesdropping, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Leviss is a former cast member of “Vanderpump Rules,” a reality TV show about a series of restaurants in West Hollywood, an affluent city in LA County. The show is a spinoff of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Sandoval and Madix are current cast members.

In March 2023, the longtime couple quite publicly broke up. Madix thought Leviss was her friend, but Leviss was having an affair with Sandoval. Madix discovered the infidelity by looking at her then-boyfriend’s phone after it fell out of his pocket while he was performing with his band. On the phone were the Leviss videos.