Washington lawyer Tom Goldstein accused of hiding millions in poker earnings as trial begins

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Prominent Washington lawyer Tom Goldstein is set to square off with federal prosecutors on Thursday as a jury trial begins on criminal charges stemming from the veteran U.S. Supreme Court advocate’s side career as a high-stakes poker player.

Jurors in Greenbelt, Maryland, will hear arguments from Goldstein’s legal team and prosecutors who allege he failed to report millions of dollars he won in poker matches, lied on loan documents and made improper payments through his law firm Goldstein & Russell to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Goldstein, who has argued more than 40 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court and founded the SCOTUSblog news and analysis website, pleaded not guilty and has twice turned down an offer of a plea deal by the Justice Department.

In a pretrial filing, he said “the government has cherry-picked a few clerical errors and charged them as a crime.”

The trial is expected to last about four weeks before U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby.

Goldstein’s indictment in January stunned Washington’s legal community, where he was widely seen as one of the top appellate lawyers in the country.

A Democrat, Goldstein was part of the team that represented Al Gore in the Supreme Court fight over George W. Bush’s victory in the 2000 presidential election. His other clients have included Google and “Fortnite” maker Epic Games. He retired from his law practice in 2023.

Goldstein was charged in the final days of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. In a November 2024 opinion column in the New York Times, Goldstein urged prosecutors to drop criminal cases against Trump after his election victory, writing that voters had already rendered the “ultimate verdict.” 

(Reporting by Mike ScarcellaEditing by Shri Navaratnam)