Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein is detained as flight risk in tax case

Prominent former U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein was arrested and detained on Monday after a judge in Maryland said he violated the terms of his pretrial release on previous tax-related charges tied to his high-stakes poker playing. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan said Goldstein posed a flight risk and could not be trusted to remain free after prosecutors said he transferred millions of dollars in crytocurrency assets using accounts he concealed from the court. Sullivan ordered Goldstein, publisher of the SCOTUSblog news website, to remain in federal custody as he fights the tax charges leveled against him last month. Defense attorneys who previously appeared for Goldstein, John Lauro and Christopher Kise, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sullivan indicated in his order that Goldstein has decided "to represent himself in this case." Goldstein, who argued more than 40 Supreme Court cases before retiring from legal practice in 2023, was indicted last month on 22 counts of tax evasion and other tax crimes allegedly connected to his side career as a poker player. The indictment said Goldstein won and lost millions of dollars in individual poker matches and made improper payments through his law firm to cover debts. He pleaded not guilty on Jan. 27 and was granted pretrial release. Maryland federal prosecutors in their new arrest warrant on Monday alleged Goldstein received more than $8 million in cryptocurrency and sent more than $6 million in cryptocurrency over the last five days. He was obligated to disclose all of his financial accounts to the court, prosecutors said.Goldstein's receipt and transfer of millions of dollars to other wallets "strongly suggests he is preparing to offshore his assets and flee," prosecutors said.They also alleged that Goldstein tried to stop a potential witness who knew about his personal and law firm finances from cooperating with the investigation by "[offering] things of value, including cryptocurrency."The earlier indictment against Goldstein said he borrowed millions of dollars to stake poker matches, underreported his gambling winnings, and used funds from his law firm, then known as Goldstein & Russell, to pay off his debts.