Top US Lawyer EXPOSED in $50M Poker Scandal

For two decades, Tom Goldstein was at the top of the legal world. He argued more cases before the United States Supreme Court than almost any private attorney. He founded SCOTUSblog, a legal blog that quickly became the go-to source for Supreme Court analysis. He lectured at Stanford University and Harvard University and regularly appeared on national news programs.

But Goldstein had another life. When he wasn’t arguing before Supreme Court justices, Goldstein was flying to Hollywood or Hong Kong and winning or losing millions in ultra-high-stakes poker matches. He played heads-up against California businessmen and foreign gamblers, at one point allegedly winning over $50 million in just a few sessions.

Goldstein’s luck turned in January 2025 when the US Department of Justice a federal grand jury initiated a 22-count indictment, accusing the attorney of failing to report millions in poker winnings and diverting law firm funds to pay his personal poker debts.

In this PokerNews Special, the PokerNews team does a deep dive into the shocking fall from grace of one of the nation’s most respected attorneys.

00:00 Intro
00:36 The High-Stakes Indictment of Tom Goldstein
02:20 Who Is Tom Goldstein?
05:42 The Indictment
10:18 Not Going Down Without A Fight

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it is believed he won tens of millions of dollars in highstakes poker matches around the world he mingled with billionaires and foreign gambling mogul an indictment alleges he flew into the US with a duffel bag filled with nearly a million in poker winnings our sources suggest he crossed paths with Kevin Hart at a high-end resort in Greece he apparently played in a million dollar streamed cash game while concealing his identity but it all came crashing down when the feds came knocking this is the story of Tom Goldstein [Music] for two decades Tom Goldstein was at the top of the legal world he argued more cases before the United States Supreme Court than almost any private attorney and founded Scotas Blog a legal blog that quickly became the go-to source for Supreme Court analysis he lectured at Stanford and Harvard and regularly appeared on national news programs to give Supreme Court analysis but Tom Goldstein had another life when he wasn’t arguing before Supreme Court justices Goldstein was flying to Hollywood or Hong Kong and winning or losing millions in ultra highstakes poker matches he played heads up against California businessmen and foreign gamblers at one point allegedly winning over $50 million in just a few sessions goldstein’s luck turned in January 2025 when a federal grand jury in Maryland initiated a 22count indictment accusing the attorney of failing to report millions in poker winnings and diverting law firm funds to pay personal poker debts the allegations in the indictment were stunning and quickly garnered national media attention in addition to failing to report poker winnings the federal government accused Goldstein of lying on mortgage applications and putting several women he had personal relationships with on the company payroll but before digging into the indictment let’s talk about who Tom Goldstein is and why the charges against him were so shocking tom Goldstein’s accomplishments as a lawyer really can’t be overstated he represented Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election dispute and more recently represented Google in a landmark case against Oracle as his own bio page on Scotas blog states he has represented clients in cases that span virtually all of federal law including bankruptcy disability law employment discrimination free speech immigration and trademarks goldstein began playing poker during the poker boom and in 2008 traveled to Las Vegas to play the World Series of Poker main event it was also around this time that Goldstein began playing in highstakes cash games at the Bellagio where he quickly developed a reputation as a reckless bluffer an unpredictable opponent here’s how one player described Goldstein’s playing style in a two plus two post titled Craziest Poker Game of My Life tom went from 12K to over 100K back down to about 20K and then back up to over 100K he ended with less than that but he ended with a win and he won over 18 hours with every person at the table gunning for him with every person in the poker room vying for seats in the game to take a shot at him the game was so insane that even seasoned pros like Greg Mueller and Johnny Chan were often coming over to witness the craziness of this game at the Bellagio Goldstein met and became friends with social media playboy Dan Bilzerian who wrote in his 2021 autobiography that he has quote never met anyone with less respect for money proportionate to their net worth than Tom this was aptly demonstrated in 2011 when Goldstein betilizer $300,000 that his Ferrari could beat Bilzerian’s AC Cobra around a Las Vegas racetrack the autobiography goes on to detail how the two further negotiated that Bilzerian couldn’t have sex or masturbate if he lost while Goldstein would have to get high with Bilzerian if he lost goldstein lost the bet and kept up his end of it getting so high according to Bilzerian’s autobiography that he left his Ferrari parked on the side of Las Vegas Boulevard outside the Bellagio it was also around this time that Goldstein began representing poker clients he represented Bill Xariion in a 2014 lawsuit against an adult film actress who was injured by the social media Playboy during a film shoot and he testified on behalf of the poker players Alliance in the fight for legal online poker goldstein also represented Malaysian gambling mogul and highstakes poker player Paul Pua in an illegal sports betting case stemming from a 2014 FBI raid at Caesar’s Palace that case notably saw high stakes poker pros Phil Ivy and Andrew Roel posting Pua’s $2.5 million bail at this point Goldstein was fully immersed in poker taking big gamles and swinging six figures but the stakes were about to increase dramatically according to January’s indictment Goldstein allegedly began playing in highstakes poker matches in 2014 at stakes totaling millions and even tens of millions of dollars prosecutors say he financed these games by taking out millions of dollars in private loans fast forward two years and Goldstein was playing in a series of heads up matches against three ultra-wealthy individuals referred to in the indictment only as Foreign Gambler 1 Foreign Gambler 2 and California Businessman 2 goldstein went on a run that will go down as one of the biggest wins in poker history he first won $13.8 $8 million in his match against foreign gambler 1 in Asia before flying to Beverly Hills and winning $26.4 million from California Businessman 2 he then rounded out the heads up matches by flying back to Asia and beating foreign gambler 1 out of $8.8 million in total Goldstein banked $50.8 8 million in profit over 77 hours for an average win rate of $660,000 a calculation that he texted to two unnamed professional poker players whom he enlisted as coaches and backers according to federal prosecutors Goldstein failed to report these massive winnings on his 2016 tax form the same year Goldstein was allegedly involved in other heads up and ring poker matches in which he lost millions of dollars to pay off these debts Goldstein is said to have used funds from his law firm Goldstein and Russell goldstein continued his heads up matches into 2017 and generated substantial losses he allegedly lost $10 million in a series of matches against California Businessman 3 where he had all of his action meaning he was solely responsible for covering his losses prosecutors allege Goldstein diverted legal fees from his law firm to cover these losses and even contacted a lawyer at another firm to see if they would be interested in investing $500,000 in his poker matches all while withholding the fact that he was already down $10 million goldstein secured backers for later matches but still lost $16 million by mid 2018 he still owed $6 million on his 2014 loan these highstakes ventures continued for several years in 2018 Goldstein flew to the US from Hong Kong with a duffel bag containing nearly $1 million in poker winnings winnings that prosecutors say he later falsely claimed as a loan to the IRS goldstein disputed this in a later court filing when he wasn’t playing Goldstein used his legal prowess to help out poker players when a Texas billionaire refused to pay out the $15.6 6 million he owed to a Hollywood actor from a December 2019 poker match goldstein helped the actor collect their winnings prosecutors say Goldstein used the $500,000 legal fee owed to his firm to pay down his poker debts all told prosecutors say Goldstein allegedly did not report or falsely understated millions of dollars of gambling winnings on his tax returns between 2016 and 2021 with the exception of 2018 they say Goldstein allegedly did not pay the taxes he self-reported were due on his returns while simultaneously spending millions of dollars on personal expenses such as gambling debts travel vacation rentals and luxury goods but Goldstein isn’t going out without a fight when he was indicted Goldstein quickly pleaded not guilty to all counts and recruited top attorneys who had represented President Donald Trump “mr goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation,” the attorneys wrote in a statement provided to Poker News shortly after the indictment “we are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial while a jury trial isn’t scheduled to start until 2026 this high-profile case has hardly slowed down since January’s indictment in February Goldstein was arrested and detained as a serious risk of flight after prosecutors claimed to have found hidden crypto wallets that they alleged Goldstein used to conduct 7 figure transfers a violation of his bail terms goldstein denied ownership of the wallets and said the government had made a mistake pointing out that one transaction took place while he was in custody which would have been impossible for him to make a federal judge later ordered Goldstein’s release from custody noting that given the information that Mr goldstein has now presented the court is no longer convinced by clear and convincing evidence that Mr goldstein violated his conditions of release the judge added however that he was still highly suspicious that Mr goldstein has used cryptocurrency while on conditions of release noting that he has used cryptocurrency to pay for everything from gambling losses to luxury watches for multiple women the judge ordered Goldstein not to send or receive crypto while awaiting trial and for his electronic devices to be monitored he was previously ordered not to play poker the crypto wallets dispute also revealed more about Goldstein’s highstakes poker winnings with prosecutors alleging that he has continued his criminal non-disclosure of cryptocurrency transactions and millions of dollars of income including $12 million in net gambling winnings in 2022 and $10 million in 2023 goldstein allegedly won $51 million gambling against a single unnamed opponent in a 2-year period between May of 2022 and May of 2024 prosecutors also say Goldstein lost a substantial sum of money in highstakes poker matches at a July 2024 birthday party in Greece which Poker News learned and reported and was rumored to be that of A-list actor Kevin Hart that party appeared to be attended by highstakes poker pros including Antonio Esfandiari Andrew Roble Bill Perkins and Eddie Ting and as Poker News also learned and was the first to report Goldstein was rumored to be the mystery player in the 2024 Hustler Casino Live Milliondoll Game where the mystery player lost $2.7 million over two sessions and mucked this winning hand in a half million dollar pot call Steve makes the call i didn’t hear 25k chips thomas folded i’m not sure if he misread his hands should I feel slighted or he thought he was bluffing poker news spoke with the player who was on the winning end of that hand here’s what he had to say uh so I played a couple hands in this hand that one I had no idea so uh I didn’t know until an hour later I was interviewed and I was told during the interview “Did you know that he pulled us straight how does that make you feel?” I’m like “It makes me feel like an idiot because I played it bad but I still got to keep the money.” As one of the most accomplished lawyers in the country it should be no surprise that Goldstein is aggressively fighting his case in addition to pleading not guilty to all charges Goldstein has accused the government of intentionally misleading the court and otherwise acting in bad faith he has also appealed his release terms arguing that the monitoring of his electronic devices is a drastic condition of release that compromises his ability to communicate privately with his attorneys nevertheless US District Judge Lydia K griggsby ruled in March 2025 that the monitoring condition is the least restricting condition to assure the defendant’s reasonable appearance and to enforce the conditions of his pre-trial release goldstein later asked Judge Griggsby to dismiss the criminal charges against him filing an array of motions and accusing the government of withholding information beneficial to the defense according to Reuters Goldstein contended he filed a tax return each year identified in the indictment and paid the outstanding taxes with penalties and interest he also asked the judge to throw out statements he made to customs officials related to a duffel bag of cash he carried through customs in 2018 arguing that he should have been advised of his right to remain silent goldstein retired from legal practice in 2023 and is no longer associated with the legal blog he founded Scottas Blog which was acquired by the Dispatch in April of 2025 in January of 2025 John Luro of Loro and Singer and Christopher Kis of Continental at the time trial counsel for Goldstein provided Poker News with the following statement mr goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation we are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial as of recording Goldstein’s trial is scheduled to get underway in January 2026 poker News will continue to monitor the case and will report on any developments along the way while it’s too early to know how things will pan out the federal case against Goldstein offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of ultra high stakes poker and delivers a cautionary reminder that sometimes the stakes can get too high