A flurry of pre-trial activity has occurred in recent days in the United States tax evasion and fraud case against prominent attorney and part-time ultra-high-stakes poker player Tom Goldstein. The 54-year-old Goldstein, who was indicted in January on 22 felony charges, continues to battle to remove his Washington DC home as collateral for his release on bond prior to his case coming to an actual trial.
Goldstein, who has argued 45 cases before the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and is the co-founder of the prominent SCOTUSblog, has already tried to remove his $3.5 million property in northwest DC and replace it with three South Carolina properties owned by parents and siblings as signed collateral for the bond.
Late last week, Chief US Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan denied Goldstein's attempt to switch the properties secured as collateral. In denying the switch, Judge Sullivan decreed that having the DC property as collateral was an important component in assuring that Goldstein is present in court for his trial.
Judge Sullivan did grant a different part of Goldstein's two-part motion, however, in articulating that the property would only be forfeited should Goldstein not show up for the trial and not for other "minor" violations of bond conditions.
That distinction is somewhat moot, though, as the original indictment calls for the seizure of the property should Goldstein be found guilty of any of the final three felony counts in the indictment. Those counts allege bank fraud by Goldstein in the process of obtaining financing of the home, specifically by not disclosing millions of dollars in debt.
Wife's shared ownership not yet discussed in court
The collateral dispute has sidestepped to date any formal arguments about the luxurious 5,000-sq.-ft. DC home not being solely owned by Goldstein. Instead, the property is co-owned by his wife of 25 years, Amy Howe, who is also a lawyer and is the other co-founder of the SCOTUSblog.
According to court documents, Howe balked at the home being used as collateral given her partial ownership, and the signed document originally submitted by Goldstein securing the home as collateral made no mention of Howe's shared ownership. Howe's refusal in turn triggered Goldstein's attempt to replace the DC properties with those of the family members in South Carolina.
Goldstein files pro se motion to strike magistrate judge's ruling
In court documents obtained by PokerOrg last week, Goldstein filed a motion with the case's primary judge, US District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, seeking to have Magistrate Judge Sullivan's ruling regarding the DC home stricken. “The magistrate judge’s conclusion that Mr. Goldstein might flee—and strip his closest family members of by far their most significant assets—is not supported by the record,” Goldstein wrote.
The motion continues Goldstein's arguments that the DC home should be freed from the collateral agreement. In an odd twist, however, Goldstein filed the motion pro se, meaning on his own, even though he already has at least two prominent attorneys representing him in the case.
US District of Maryland prosecutors immediately filed their own motion to deny Goldstein's motion, arguing that established case law calls for the court to deny a pro se motion when the defendant already is using other legal representation. A hearing on this point will be held on February 12.
The case promises immense complexity throughout its duration, whether or not it goes to a full trial. The court already approved a request from both sides to suspend 'speedy trial' mandates as discovery continues. Prosecutors have declared that they expect to offer tens of thousands of documents and call as many as 80 witnesses in a trial, while Goldstein, in his motion to strike, acknowledged that the investigation into his financial activities has been going on for over four years, since 2020.
Feature image courtesy of Wikipedia Creative Commons.
