Tom Goldstein, a lawyer who argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court and founded the widely read SCOTUSBlog but lived a secret life as a high-stakes poker player, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for tax evasion and mortgage fraud.
Goldstein was also ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution and will serve five years of supervised release after his prison time.
The outcome is a massive fall for the 56-year-old, who circulated in the highest legal circles and had a reputation for being a whip-smart lawyer with an ability to read the justices.
He argued more than 40 cases to the high court during his career and was successful enough that he formed a boutique law firm, Goldstein & Russell, which specialized in Supreme Court cases.
But he was also enmeshed in the world of high-stakes poker, playing games involving millions of dollars. He was convicted of concealing his earnings and failing to pay taxes on them. He also used money from his law firm to pay poker debts, classifying them as business expenses, which resulted in underreporting his income.
He was also convicted of hiding $14 million in debts when he applied for a mortgage on a $2.6 million home in Washington.
“Thomas Goldstein built a distinguished legal career arguing that the rule of law matters. Yet, as the evidence at trial showed, he repeatedly chose to violate that very principle for his own financial benefit,” said Kelly Hayes, the U.S. attorney in Maryland, who prosecuted the case.
U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby delivered the sentence Friday.
Goldstein was convicted in February.
He spent the intervening months arguing his conviction should be tossed.
Goldstein founded SCOTUSBlog with his wife, Amy Howe. They had been in law practice together, but Ms. Howe eventually gravitated toward running the blog, which is the preeminent site for news about the high court.
Near the end of each Supreme Court term, the blog attracts tens of thousands of visitors who await the justices’ blockbuster opinions.
Mr. Goldstein has said he will pursue an appeal of his conviction.
He had asked the judge to sentence him to probation instead of prison time.
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