Supreme Court Lawyer Tom Goldstein Sentenced to Six Years Over Poker-Linked Tax Crimes

Supreme Court Lawyer Tom Goldstein Sentenced to Six Years Over Poker-Linked Tax Crimes
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Iva Dozet News Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: July 28, 2026
  • Read time: 2 min

A celebrated Supreme Court lawyer leads a second life playing poker for millions, conceals gambling income from the tax authorities and ends up in a federal courtroom where a Hollywood star takes the witness stand. It sounds like a rough first draft for a legal thriller.

Instead, it is the case of Tom Goldstein, the prominent appellate attorney and SCOTUSblog co-founder who was sentenced to six years in federal prison last week for tax and financial crimes connected to his years as a high-stakes poker player.

This sentence marks the latest — but possibly not final — chapter in a case that stunned Washington’s legal community that began when Goldstein was first indicted in January 2025. A jury later convicted him on 12 of the 16 counts he faced, including tax evasion, filing false tax returns, failing to pay taxes and mortgage fraud.

Here is the story.

Goldstein Sentenced to Six Years in Federal Prison

Last Friday, US District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby handed down the sentence following a day-long hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In addition to six years behind bars, Goldstein was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $3.1 million in restitution. The judge also ordered him to surrender immediately, rejecting his request to report to prison voluntarily.

Tom Goldstein
Tom Goldstein

Prior to sentencing, Goldstein’s lawyers had asked the court to spare him from incarceration, arguing that supervision would allow him to repay his debts, address what they described as a severe gambling addiction and continue contributing to society.

According to the defense, Goldstein’s gambling was self-destructive rather than part of a deliberate criminal scheme.

Tom Goldstein

The obvious reality overshadowing this case is that Mr. Goldstein has a severe and longstanding gambling addiction.

They argued that he had spent years competing against opponents whose wealth allowed them to absorb losses he could not afford.

Prosecutors rejected that explanation out right. They alleged that Goldstein diverted money from his law firm to settle gambling debts, recorded personal gambling payments as business expenses and concealed liabilities from accountants, lenders and the Internal Revenue Service.

Supreme Court Attorney Tom Goldstein
Supreme Court Attorney Tom Goldstein

Taking all that into account, prosecutors sought a sentence of just over eight years. According to Politico, they accused Goldstein of concealing more than $25 million in income between 2016 and 2023, leaving more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes.

As the prosecution put it:

Lead Prosecutor, Adeyemi Adenrele

His motivation was singular: pure, unrelenting greed.

They alleged that Goldstein funnelled gambling income through offshore bank accounts, understated earnings from his law firm and lied to lenders while maintaining a lifestyle that included luxury cars, international travel and an expensive watch.

Goldstein, 56, became emotional while addressing the court before the sentence was announced.

Tom Goldstein

There is no question that I have deeply disappointed people, that I have not held myself to the standards that I should be held to as somebody who’s a lawyer and a prominent lawyer, that I have caused people real pain. I am going to be punished for that. I have been punished for it in one sense — in the destruction of my life, my family, my career.

Judge Griggsby described his conduct as “serious and concerning, not only in terms of the nature of it but its breadth.”

She also stressed that the obligations at the centre of the case were hardly obscure.

“Every American understands that they have an obligation to pay taxes,” Griggsby said, concluding that the evidence showed Goldstein had deliberately failed to meet those obligations.

The judge described the lawyer who was part of Al Gore’s legal team during Bush v. Gore as “brilliant by all accounts” but said the strength of the evidence left little room for doubt.

“I don’t think this is a close case,” she said.

Just as Judge Griggsby predicted, the Supreme Court attorney has already said that he intends to appeal both his conviction and sentence before the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals.