Tom Goldstein--SCOTUSblog founder, Prominent Supreme Court Advocate, and High-Stakes Gambler--Indicted for Tax and Related Crimes and False Statements to Mortgage Lenders (1/17/25)

Yesterday's big news in tax crimes was the indictment of Tom Goldstein, the co-founder of SCOTUSblog, a big-time Supreme Court advocate, and high-stakes gambler. The indictment lays out  major and many crimes including

• tax crimes (evasion § 7201, aiding and assisting § 7206(2), willful failure to pay tax § 7203)
• aiding and abetting 18 U.S.C. § 2) and 
• mortgage-related crimes (including false statements 18 USC § 1014) and 
• seeks forfeiture for mortgage-related crimes. 

A significant feature is Goldstein’s apparent addiction to high-stakes gambling and to other vices, which may include metaphorically wine, women, and song (with emphasis on women).

For those interested in delving deeper into the details, I provide a link to the indictment along with some of the more insightful articles on the subject. This will allow readers to pursue the matter further as they wish.

Links:

• Indictment, CL here. (The CL docket sheet is here, although it is sparsely populated with only the indictment now.)
• David Lat, SCOTUSblog Founder Tom Goldstein Hit With 22-Count Federal Indictment (Original Jurisdiction 1/17/25), here.
• Amanda Robert and Lee Rawles, SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein faces tax evasion charges (ABA Journal 1/16/25), here.
• Francis Chung, Supreme Court blog publisher Tom Goldstein, a high-stakes poker player, indicted on tax charges (Politico with Associated Press 1/16/25), here.

In the pattern of conduct for tax evasion, the indictment alleges cryptocurrency tax violations. (See ¶ 21, 24.n., 70-72, 81, & 83; there have been some other relatively recent cryptocurrency tax crimes items that I have been meaning to blog, but I will do that later, perhaps this weekend.)

My editorial comment is that the pattern of conduct alleged shows amazing hubris or chutzpah or some type of pervasive psychological or antisocial disorder.

Added 1/17/25 3:55pm: One comment I read on one blog write-up was that this case is ripe for a good storyteller such as Michael Lewis to write a book that should be a  bestseller.