Trial concludes
The trial of Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein has caught the attention of the media in the beginning of 2026. It started on January 12 and even featured a testimony from Spider-Man star Toby Maguire.
maintaining his secret life in high-stakes poker
Goldstein, an avid high-stakes poker player, stands accused of tax evasion after grossing tens of millions of dollars as well as a racking up a staggering gambling debt. The lawyer argued cases before the Supreme Court and published a popular blog, all while maintaining his secret life in high-stakes poker.
Justice Department Prosecutor Sean Beaty called it “a textbook tax-evasion scheme.” Meanwhile, Goldstein has consistently denied all claims and his lawyer Jonathan Kravis claims the government accepted a “made-up story” about Goldstein’s gambling.
The trial concluded on Wednesday.
A secret life
The charges against Goldstein include tax evasion and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns on 16 counts. He supposedly failed to pay taxes on millions of dollars of gambling income, used money from his law film to pay gambling debts, and deducted gambling debts as business expenses.
Beaty said: “He’s not a dummy,” instead describing the lawyer as “a willful tax cheat.” He told jurors that Goldstein is one of the smarted attorneys to argue in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Goldstein’s lawyer claims he made “innocent mistakes” on his tax returns, but didn’t knowingly cheat.
Goldstein amassed $50m in poker winnings in 2016 and didn’t announce this in tax returns. The scheme allegedly fell apart when a disgruntled gambler notified the IRS about a debt owed to them by Goldstein. The attorney supposedly also hid a $15m gambling debt from mortgage loan applications while looking for a Washington DC home in 2021.
Spider-Man comes to town
In one of the highlights of the trial, Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire gave testimony. The actor said that he hired Goldstein to recover a $7.8m poker debt from billionaire Andy Beal, paying the lawyer $500,000 to do so. Maguire said these types of undocumented transfers are common in high-stakes poker.
he supposedly transferred the entire $500,000 legal fee directly to Bob Safai
Once Maguire had recovered the money owed, he supposedly transferred the entire $500,000 legal fee directly to Bob Safai. He did so because Goldstein already owed real estate agent Safai. However, this added even more weight to the claims of Goldstein’s poker debts.
