The former Supreme Court lawyer arrested last month on tax evasion charges related to his high stakes poker income is back in jail this week. A Maryland court judge agreed with accusations he breached his bail conditions by allegedly hiding millions in cryptocurrency funds from investigators.
The retired top level lawyer is accused of lying to the taxman about millions of his gambling winnings, as well as misappropriating funds from his former law firm to pay off gambling debts.
He was released on bail after being arrested on January 16 pending those charges. However, investigators told the court that over the past week, Goldstein made more than $14 million in cryptocurrency transactions – money he had also not revealed to the taxman or prosecutors.
In fact, the previous week, Goldstein had told a Judge he was broke and in $3 million of debt. Maryland District Judge Judge Timothy J. Sullivan immediately ordered Goldstein detained after receiving the news.
Goldstein, as with the other charges, denied involvement. He spoke before being detained in court on Monday, where he also told the Judge he plans on representing himself against the charges.
“These are not my accounts,” he said after being asked to be placed under oath. “I didn’t engage in these transfers.”
The Alleged Transfers
Goldstein was arrested once again last weekend, prior to a scheduled Monday hearing in the Maryland District Court.
Court documents said prosecutors believe he was connected to two cryptocurrency wallets that sent $6 million and received $8 million over the course of five days at the end of January. Goldstein was required by bail conditions to disclose all financial activity to the court while awaiting trial. The court believes he broke that agreement, despite his claims of innocence.
Although the crypto wallets cannot be conclusively connected to anyone, investigators obtained the details of one wallet Goldstein said was his in text messages to a luxury travel CEO. Some of the wallets sent money to bank accounts to people related to Goldstein, and he has continued to employ an $8,000 a month personal assistant since being arrested, prosecutors said.
These alleged transfers came after Goldstein, representing himself, filed a motion to have his bail terms reconsidered. Despite telling the court he had a net worth of negative $3 million, he asked to cancel an order putting his $3.5 million Washington D.C. home on bail.
Prosecutors have since responded to that request, bringing to light the new allegations of hidden wealth in crypto wallets. They also allege that some of the money may have been used to pay off potential witnesses in the case. This all led to Sullivan imposing a detention order on Goldstein.
“Furthermore, there are no conditions and/or combinations of conditions that can be established to reasonably assure compliance given the seriousness of the violations and the Court’s continued concern of risk of flight,” Sullivan said in the order.
The Charges
It is not clear if these new allegations of hidden wealth will be added to Goldstein’s rap sheet of charges. He had previously been represented by law firm Lauro & Singer, but he since told the court he cannot afford their services and will be representing himself.
If convicted on all 22 counts of tax evasion and other financial crimes, the former Supreme Court lawyer and high stakes gambler could face decades in prison.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
