‘Flight Risk’ Lawyer Tom Goldstein Rearrested for Concealing Crypto Millions from Court

Posted on: February 12, 2025, 07:25h. 

Last updated on: February 12, 2025, 09:54h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Lawyer Tom Goldstein was indicted for failing to declare millions in high-stakes poker winnings to the IRS
  • He pleaded not guilty and was granted pretrial release
  • Goldstein was rearrested Monday after prosecutors said he concealed millions in crypto

Tom Goldstein, the high-flying lawyer accused of dodging $5.3 million in taxes on high-stakes poker winnings, has been detained as a flight risk. That’s after a federal judge in Maryland determined he violated the terms of his pretrial release by transferring millions of dollars in cryptocurrency using accounts he allegedly concealed from the court.

Tom Goldstein, tax evasion, crypto, poker
Tom Goldstein, above, moonlighted as an “ultra-high-stakes poker player” but forgot to tell the IRS. On Tuesday, he denied owning two crypto wallets in contravention of the terms of his pretrial release. (Image: Wikicommons via Legaleagle22)

Prosecutors argued Goldstein’s behavior “strongly suggests he is preparing to offshore his assets and flee.”

Goldstein, who argued more than 40 US Supreme Court cases including Bush vs Gore, moonlighted as an “ultra-high-stakes poker player,” according to a 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in January.

$50M Heads Up

Goldstein won more than $50 million in a series of heads-up matches against wealthy businessmen in Asia and California who are unnamed in court documents. He also racked up losses, such as when he dropped $16 million to a different unnamed California businessman.

From 2016 to 2021, the lawyer failed to declare millions of dollars of high-stakes poker winnings to the IRS, according to the complaint. He’s also accused of using funds from his Bethesda, Md. law firm, Goldstein & Russell, to pay his poker debts. Additionally, he concealed his debts on two separate mortgage applications, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors also allege that Goldstein installed four women he was in a relationship with onto the payroll at Goldstein & Russell. The women did “little or no work” for the firm, prosecutors claim.

Goldstein pleaded not guilty on January 27 and was granted pretrial release. However, on Monday, federal prosecutors alleged that he had concealed the existence of two cryptocurrency wallets through which he had received over $8 million, and sent more than $6 million of crypto in the preceding five days.

They also alleged that Goldstein tried to stop a potential witness who knew about his personal and law firm finances from cooperating with the investigation by “[offering] things of value, including cryptocurrency.”

Government ‘Mistake’

In an emergency motion filed to the court Tuesday, Goldstein’s attorneys said the government had “made a mistake.”

Its motion to revoke the release order of defendant Thomas Goldstein is premised entirely on the assertion that Mr. Goldstein owns two cryptocurrency wallets that have been used for large financial transactions in the last few days,” they wrote. “That assertion is false.”

Text messages that government prosecutors argued prove Goldstein’s ownership of the wallets actually show him requesting the funds be sent to a third party to pay a debt — crucial context that was omitted from the motion to revoke the release order, the lawyers claimed.