Supreme Court attorney Tom Goldstein (UNC School of Law/YouTube).
Tom Goldstein, a Supreme Court lawyer and co-founder of SCOTUSblog, is arguing against the monitoring of his electronic devices. He claims in court filings that he poses no risk of fleeing, despite facing allegations of concealing large sums of cryptocurrency and engaging in criminal activities that involve international travel and connections, as asserted by federal prosecutors.
The Department of Justice expressed its disagreement in a filing on Thursday, contending that Goldstein’s account of events only heightens his flight risk. This comes after Goldstein disclosed in court documents that he instructed a third party to transfer $500,000 in USDC, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, to an unhosted 935B crypto wallet under the alias “Tiger” on behalf of an unidentified individual. Prosecutors emphasize that this transaction indicates Goldstein’s ties to affluent and undisclosed individuals who could potentially aid in his escape from legal consequences.
Highlighting the significance of the situation, the DOJ pointed out that, based on Goldstein’s own expert, the 935B wallet has dealt with around $100,000,000 in cryptocurrency since its establishment in November 2022. The opposition filing also references a mysterious individual named “Larry” to whom Goldstein reportedly transfers funds.
“In other words, to pay Larry ‘his share of poker,’ Defendant funded a wallet that has had roughly $100 million in transactions,” the DOJ said. “Even if Defendant does not own or control the 935B wallet, these facts show Defendant’s connection to individuals — possibly abroad — who have controlled tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency through an unhosted wallet. And his use of the Fixer to route cryptocurrency through a third-party to the 935B wallet further underscores how Defendant has used, and can continue to use, unhosted cryptocurrency wallets to facilitate transfers of large sums of money with gambling and/or foreign contacts.”
A lawyer known for handling high-profile cases, Goldstein was indicted on federal tax evasion charges in January for allegedly failing to report millions of dollars that he won gambling in high-stakes poker matches, according to prosecutors. He was also accused of using his former law firm’s assets to “satisfy” gambling debts. Last month, Goldstein was taken into federal custody again and charged for secretly using undisclosed cryptocurrency accounts behind the backs of federal prosecutors and investigators, which demonstrated that he was a “serious risk of flight,” according to the DOJ.
Goldstein, who co-founded the popular Supreme Court news and analysis site SCOTUSblog with his wife and fellow attorney Amy Howe in 2002, was found to have likely violated terms of his pretrial release and ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan to be detained pending trial and to have his electronic devices monitored.
Goldstein allegedly received and sent more than $14 million in cryptocurrency over the span of a week before being arrested the second time.
“He received over $8 million in cryptocurrency and sent more than $6 million of cryptocurrency over the last five days,” prosecutors alleged.
While this was going on, Goldstein was fighting in court to remove “the potential” for a residence he owned in Washington, D.C., to be forfeited — if he were to flee or is convicted on the gambling-related charges he is facing — by offering up homes belonging to family members.
In his gambling case, prosecutors say Goldstein — an expert at Texas Hold ’em — willfully failed to pay more than $5.3 million in taxes that he allegedly owed the IRS following big wins. He allegedly “understated his gambling winnings” by more than $3.9 million on his 2016 Form 1040, according to his original indictment, causing the filing of a false Form 1040 and the evasion of a substantial amount of his 2016 income tax.
In its opposition filing Thursday, the DOJ noted how Goldstein is accused of “willfully failing to report” as income nearly $1 million in cash that he allegedly brought back from a gambling trip to Macau. Goldstein also “willfully” failed to report millions of dollars in gambling winnings from “heads up” poker matches elsewhere in Asia, which is when two players play directly against each other.
“(Goldstein) falsely stated on his 2020 and 2021 Forms 1040 that he had not received, sold, sent, exchanged, or otherwise acquired or disposed of any financial interest in any virtual currency — despite the fact that he had engaged in dozens of cryptocurrency transactions totaling over $10 million over those two tax years,” prosecutors alleged. “In 2022, Defendant shifted from wallets hosted at exchanges — namely, Coinbase and Binance — to unhosted wallets not attributable through any exchange. In the past two years, Defendant has continued to fund and use unhosted wallets.”
The DOJ pointed to approximately $2 million in transfers that were made using crypto wallets after Goldstein was taken into custody, which they believe were “done by or at the direction” of Goldstein to conceal his earnings and crimes. Prosecutors say the aforementioned 935B wallet was opened within two weeks of when Goldstein stopped using his Coinbase account, which is also the same time when he was under investigation.
“The transactions stopped until February 4, 2025 — six days after Defendant’s initial appearance (in court) and the day prior to Defendant’s pro se motion — then there was an incoming transfer of $8 million USDT into the wallet followed by a $3 million transfer USDT out of the wallet.”
According to the DOJ, roughly $3 million in USDT — the ticker symbol for the cryptocurrency Tether — was transferred out of the 935B wallet “approximately 30 minutes” after the government filed its motion to strike Goldstein’s pro se motion, which he filed in January to modify the conditions of his release.
“While this suggests that Defendant was not the exclusive owner or user of the 935B wallet, it does not diminish the simple fact that Defendant had previously coordinated with gambling and possibly foreign contacts regarding transfers into the wallet and that the recent transactions directly coincided with Defendant’s efforts to shed the bond condition on his Washington, D.C. residence,” the DOJ said Thursday. “The evidence regarding the 54E3 wallet is even clearer.”
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According to prosecutors, the 54E3 wallet was “first used” when a professional gambler transferred $242,410 to Goldstein for a poker loss.
“The 54E3 wallet was dormant until, on February 5, 2025, at 4:10 a.m. EST — the day Defendant filed his pro se motion — the wallet received an incoming transfer of $1,306.32 in USDT,” the DOJ explained. “One minute later, at 4:11 a.m. EST, a transfer of $22,006.84 in USDT went out of the wallet. In other words, there were no transactions using the wallet from the day that Professional Gambler-1 used the wallet to pay Defendant for a poker loss until there were two the day that Defendant filed his pro se motion to shed the bond on his Washington, D.C. residence — a period of one year, seven months, and thirty days.”
To call it a coincidence is “an understatement,” according to the DOJ, as it allegedly corroborates that the transfer of the funds was “done by or at the direction” of Goldstein.
“At a minimum, it serves as yet another example of large sums of cryptocurrency being transferred to and from an unhosted wallet that Defendant has used to facilitate his financial subterfuge,” prosecutors concluded. “Defendant’s long history of lying to others and obfuscating his cryptocurrency make it reasonably necessary to ensure he does not attempt to access or transfer undisclosed cryptocurrency in order to flee.”
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach Goldstein’s lawyers for comment on Sunday were unsuccessful.
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