A Maryland federal judge ordered the rearrest of prominent Supreme Court attorney Thomas Goldstein on Monday, following an earlier release on bail.
Goldstein, who faces a criminal tax evasion case for “concealing millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions from the IRS,” had been involved in “misconduct” that spanned “more than half a decade,” the case file reads.
Federal prosecutors later claimed that he showed “urgent risk of flight,” given his connections to “wealthy individuals.” The prosecutors urged Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan to revoke Goldstein’s bail, citing violations of pretrial release terms.
Win some, lose some
Prosecutors alleged that Goldstein failed to disclose that he controls two “unhosted” crypto wallets, one abroad and another based in the U.S.
Goldstein allegedly did “approximately 200 transactions” in 2021, with the total transaction volume amounting to over $8 million at the time, the indictment reads.
This follows showed a marked uptick from the $1.5 million he transferred over 80 undisclosed transactions in 2020, the prosecutors said.
The court filing also detailed how Goldstein attempted to influence a potential witness by offering crypto, shortly after learning of the federal investigation.
Goldstein allegedly “offered things of value, including cryptocurrency, to a potential witness in the case” who reportedly had detailed knowledge of Goldstein’s law firm finances, the prosecutors said.
Goldstein is renowned for being the co-founder of SCOTUSblog, a popular blog covering the Supreme Court where he writes analyses and summaries on decisions and petitions.
From having a distinguished career in law, Goldstein later got himself involved in massive gambling debts, which later led to the 22-count indictment that alleged he “failed to report millions in poker winnings” as well as falsely omitting “more than $14 Million in debts” to secure a loan.
After arguing over 40 Supreme Court cases, Goldstein left the legal practice in 2023.
‘What crypto is it, please?’
The latest warrant, released Monday by Maryland federal prosecutors, alleges Goldstein received more than $8 million in crypto and sent more than $6 million worth of crypto “over the last five days.”
These crypto transfers suggested that Goldstein “is preparing to offshore his assets and flee,” prosecutors said.
Details of the crypto transactions indicate that some $73.6 million in USDC and USDT stablecoins were sent through Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard from a wallet ending in “935B” while the total received amount was roughly $75.6 million.
By the time indictment was released earlier on January 16, the wallets were already empty.
In conversations from 2023 with a certain “fixer,” singled out as a certain CEO of a West Coast-based luxury travel and concierge service, Goldstein arranged transactions and their crypto-to-cash structure, the court documents reveal.
“In Dubai with the client that paid with the coin. I have your coin in the wallet ready to go when you are,” the fixer told Goldstein.
Responding pointedly, Goldstein asked: “What crypto is it, please?”
“USDC or USDT and is it on the ETH protocol?” Goldstein pressed, hanging the convo.
“It’s on the egg protocol corrrct” the fixer responded, with a supposed typo for “ETH,” more than four hours later.
Prosecutors on the case cited these conversations with the fixer as evidence of Goldstein’s alleged intent to hide his transactions using crypto. These transactions were “recorded in the public ledger for the wallet,” the prosecutors claimed.
Goldstein “concealed the existence of this wallet” from Pretrial Services and the Court, the prosecutors wrote in the warrant.
“These are not my accounts,” Goldstein told Judge Sullivan at the Monday bail hearing. “I didn’t engage in these transfers.”
A hearing for Goldstein’s representation is scheduled for February 12, with another hearing for the conditions of his release to follow.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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