Tom Goldstein Trial: Mortgage Fraud, Maguire Testimony, Verdict

Tom Goldstein’s federal criminal trial ended on February 25, 2026, when a Maryland jury convicted the SCOTUSblog co-founder and veteran Supreme Court advocate on 12 of 16 counts tied to unreported high-stakes poker winnings, including tax evasion, aiding the preparation of false tax returns, willful failure to pay taxes, and making false statements on mortgage loan applications.¹ Prosecutors are now seeking about eight years in prison.²

What Goldstein Was Charged With

A federal grand jury in the District of Maryland returned a 22-count indictment on January 16, 2025.³ On the eve of trial, prosecutors dismissed several counts, and the case that went to the jury contained 16: one count of tax evasion focused on the 2016 tax year, eight counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns, four counts of willful failure to timely pay taxes, and three counts of making false statements on loan applications.⁴

The government’s overall theory was that from 2016 through 2023, Goldstein concealed millions of dollars in poker income and failed to pay more than $5.3 million in taxes.⁵

The Poker Winnings at the Center of the Case

Goldstein played heads-up poker at extraordinary stakes. Between May 2022 and May 2024, he and Texas billionaire Andy Beal played a series of matches in which Goldstein won $65.3 million and lost $13.8 million, for a net of about $51.4 million.⁶ The single tax evasion count that went to trial, however, focused on 2016, when prosecutors said he grossed roughly $50 million in poker winnings, including about $22 million playing in Asia.⁷

According to the indictment, Goldstein traveled to Asia in September 2016 and won $13.8 million in heads-up matches against an ultra-wealthy gambler, then won an additional $8.8 million from a different player later that year. He allegedly routed the September winnings through a bank account in Montenegro before wiring most of the money to his law firm’s U.S. account, then falsely reported the incoming money to the IRS as a reduction in payments to the firm’s stockholders.⁸

Prosecutors described the broader scheme as running through the law firm itself. Goldstein was accused of diverting legal fees owed to Goldstein & Russell into personal accounts to pay poker debts, causing those outflows to be recorded on the firm’s books as “legal-fee” expenses, and directing clients and other individuals to pay his creditors directly rather than sending money to him.⁹

One episode from the government’s case drew particular attention. Prosecutors said Goldstein traveled to Macau, received roughly $1 million in cash from a Malaysian high-stakes poker player he had represented, and tried to bring it into the United States in a duffel bag. A customs officer at Dulles International Airport found the money. Goldstein said it was gambling winnings but never reported it on his tax returns; he later told IRS agents the cash was a loan and provided no documentation.⁸

The investigation began, prosecutor Sean Beaty told the court, when a fellow gambler who felt cheated by Goldstein reported a 2016 debt to the IRS. Beaty said the scheme “fell apart” once that tip came in.⁷

The Mortgage Fraud Counts

The three false-statement counts came from 2021 loan applications Goldstein submitted to two lenders to finance a $2.6 million home in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors said he left more than $14 million in debts owed on two promissory notes, as well as taxes owed to the IRS, off applications that required full disclosure of all liabilities. One lender issued a $1.98 million loan based on the incomplete information.¹⁰

Tobey Maguire’s Testimony

The trial’s most talked-about witness was actor Tobey Maguire, who took the stand for the prosecution on January 28, 2026. Maguire, himself a poker player, testified that he had hired Goldstein to help recover more than $7 million in poker winnings from a Texas businessman after a series of matches in December 2019.¹¹ Maguire said he routed $500,000 in legal fees through a third party rather than paying Goldstein directly, and prosecutors alleged Goldstein used those funds to pay his own gambling debts rather than book them as reportable law firm income.⁵ Maguire was not accused of wrongdoing.

The Defense

Goldstein’s team, led by attorneys from Munger, Tolles & Olson, argued that he “acted in good faith at all times” and lacked criminal intent. In opening statements, defense attorney Stephany Reaves told the jury the government had “cherry-picked” transactions out of an “ocean” of financial activity.¹²

Goldstein took the stand in his own defense on February 11, 2026, testifying for roughly a day and a half. His central argument was that any errors in his tax reporting were the fault of his accountants. “If there’s a tax rule that I don’t know or information that I don’t know to give them, I need them to ask me for it. That’s why I hired them,” he told the jury.⁴ His lawyers also argued that, on balance, Goldstein was down about $10 million on his gambling overall, cutting against the picture of a man hiding vast winnings.

On the mortgage fraud counts, the defense raised a venue challenge, contending that because the loan applications were not executed in Maryland, an “essential conduct element” of the offense did not occur in the district where the case was tried. Goldstein’s team cited the case of former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby as precedent. The defense also maintained that using firm funds for personal expenses and having clients route fees to third parties were not inherently illegal.⁴

The Verdict

The jury returned its verdict on February 25, 2026, after a four-week trial before U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby in Greenbelt, Maryland.¹³ The guilty verdicts covered one count of tax evasion, four counts of willful failure to timely pay taxes, three counts of making false statements on loan applications, and four of the eight counts of aiding and assisting false tax returns. Goldstein was acquitted on the remaining four counts.¹

Prosecutors moved to detain him pending sentencing, but the court allowed him to remain free.¹⁴ Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said Goldstein “concealed millions of dollars in income, manipulated his law firm’s books and deceived lenders.”¹⁵

Post-Trial Motions

Goldstein’s team, joined for the post-verdict phase by former Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar of Cooley LLP, sought a judgment of acquittal or a new trial. Prelogar handled much of the oral argument.¹⁶

The defense argued that Judge Griggsby altered jury instructions after closing arguments and wrongly excluded key evidence, including a gambling ledger and text messages that Goldstein said documented his wins and losses and spoke to his intent. On June 16, 2026, Judge Griggsby denied the motions. She acknowledged the technical error on jury instructions and the potential error on the gambling evidence but ruled that neither had prejudiced the defense or changed the outcome. “I don’t really feel the case was all that close,” she said.¹⁶

What Goldstein Faces at Sentencing

The statutory maximums are steep. Each of the three false-statement-on-a-loan-application counts carries up to 30 years in prison. The tax evasion count carries up to five years, each of the four false-tax-return counts up to three years, and each of the four willful-failure-to-pay counts up to one year.¹⁴

Prosecutors have asked Judge Griggsby to impose a 97-month prison term, just over eight years, at the upper end of their calculated guidelines range, along with $3.1 million in restitution for unpaid taxes.² As of mid-2026, no sentencing date had been publicly scheduled. Goldstein, 55, remains free while awaiting sentencing.¹⁵

1
Bloomberg Law. Goldstein Convicted on 12 of 16 Criminal Counts in Jury Trial
2
Bloomberg Law. Tom Goldstein: Prosecutors Seek Eight Years in Prison for Lawyer
3
GovInfo. United States v. Goldstein, No. 8:25-cr-00006
4
Bloomberg Law. Tom Goldstein’s Vigorous Defense Gives the Jury a Lot to Chew On
5
Casino.org. Tobey Maguire Testifies in Tom Goldstein’s $5.3M Poker Tax Trial
6
PokerNews. Tom Goldstein Andy Beal Poker Matches
7
Politico. Supreme Court Litigator Convicted of Tax Evasion Over Income From High-Stakes Poker
8
Bloomberg Law. Gambling With the Law: How SCOTUSblog’s Goldstein Risked It All
9
IRS. Prominent Lawyer Thomas Goldstein Convicted of Tax Evasion and Mortgage Fraud
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Maryland Attorney and Poker Player Charged With Tax Crimes and Making False Statements to Mortgage Lenders
11
ABA Journal. Tobey Maguire Testifies in Tom Goldstein Tax Fraud Trial
12
The Daily Record. Tom Goldstein, Supreme Court Lawyer, Tax Evasion Trial
13
Bloomberg Law. Tom Goldstein Indictment Trimmed on Government Motion to Dismiss
14
Bloomberg Law. Tom Goldstein to Remain Free Pending Eventual Sentencing
15
The New York Times. Thomas Goldstein, Supreme Court, Poker, Tax Evasion
16
Bloomberg Law. Goldstein Denied in Bid for Post-Conviction Acquittal, New Trial