A federal jury has convicted a prominent appellate attorney from Montgomery County who argued more than 40 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and co-founded the widely read legal website SCOTUSblog on multiple counts of tax and mortgage fraud.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland, Thomas C. Goldstein, 55, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was found guilty of tax evasion, assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, willfully failing to timely pay taxes, and making false statements to mortgage lenders.
“Goldstein chose fraud and deceit over honesty and tried to cheat the American taxpayer while living a lavish lifestyle,” Hayes said per a press release. “He gambled that he wouldn’t get caught and that gamble did not pay off.”
According to evidence presented at trial, between 2016 and 2023 Goldstein served as the sole owner of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., a boutique appellate law firm that regularly handled litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court. During the same period, prosecutors said Goldstein was also a high-stakes poker player, participating in games involving tens of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors alleged that Goldstein stopped paying his taxes on time and engaged in a scheme to evade paying taxes for the 2016 tax year and beyond. Evidence showed that he concealed millions of dollars in poker winnings and losses, diverted legal fees from his law firm into his personal bank account to cover gambling-related debts, and directed others to pay his creditors directly instead of sending payments to him. Those payments were then falsely classified as legal fee expenses in the firm’s records, resulting in significant underreporting of income.
Rather than paying his tax obligations, prosecutors said Goldstein spent millions on personal expenses including gambling, travel, and luxury goods.
The jury also found that in 2021 Goldstein submitted false mortgage applications to two different lenders while seeking financing to purchase a $2.6 million home in Washington, D.C. On those applications, he failed to disclose millions of dollars in liabilities, including more than $14 million owed on two promissory notes and outstanding tax obligations to the IRS. Those omissions enabled him to secure a $1.98 million mortgage loan from one lender, according to the evidence.
Goldstein faces up to five years in prison for tax evasion, three years for each count of assisting with false tax returns, one year for each count of willful failure to pay taxes, and up to 30 years for each count of making false statements to mortgage lenders.
Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
