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SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein wins pretrial release after denying moving millions in crypto

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 13, 2025, 3:37 pm CST

SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein has won his pretrial release a second time after offering proof to contravene prosecutors’ claims that he moved millions of dollars in cryptocurrency while facing tax fraud charges.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan of the District of Maryland ordered Goldstein’s release Thursday after finding that the former U.S. Supreme Court litigator had plausibly denied the crypto allegations. Sullivan nonetheless imposed additional conditions on release to bar access to computers and internet-capable devices absent prior approval. Goldstein will also have to disclose all cryptocurrency wallets that he owns or to which he has access.

Bloomberg Law, Law360 and PokerNews have coverage.

Goldstein is a former “ultrahigh-stakes” poker player, prosecutors have said. In a Jan. 16 indictment, he was accused of understating gambling winnings and concealing cryptocurrency transactions on tax returns, using his boutique law firm to help cover his debts, putting women he was pursuing on the law-firm payroll, and failing to report money owed in debts and taxes when he applied for a mortgage.

Goldstein was arrested on Monday after federal prosecutors alleged that Goldstein violated the terms of his release by failing to disclose two cryptocurrency wallets. Prosecutors said Goldstein received $8 million in crypto through the wallets and sent another $6 million, all within the span of five days in February. The wallets were “unhosted,” which makes it impossible for prosecutors to subpoena a cryptocurrency exchange, a bank or a financial institution to learn the owner.

Prosecutors thought that Goldstein owned the wallets because of messages dating back to 2023 indicating that he had used them to transfer crypto. But Goldstein offered “a plausible explanation” that he had instructed others in the past to use the wallets in a way that benefited him, even though the wallets were never actually his, Sullivan said.

Lawyers from Munger, Tolles & Olson sought the release of Goldstein, their new client, in a Feb. 11 emergency motion. Attached to the motion were cellphone messages supporting Goldstein’s claim that he didn’t own the wallets.

“The government has made a mistake,” they wrote.

While Sullivan said he was no longer convinced, by clear and convincing evidence, that Goldstein violated the terms of his release, he is still “highly suspicious that Mr. Goldstein has used cryptocurrency while on conditions of release.”

“There is ample evidence that Mr. Goldstein has been and remains a sophisticated and frequent user of cryptocurrency for years,” Sullivan wrote. “He has used cryptocurrency—or directed others to use it on his behalf—to pay for everything from gambling losses to luxury watches for multiple women. … And it now even appears that Mr. Goldstein currently has cryptocurrency accounts—besides [the two wallets mentioned by prosecutors]—that he controls, and of which he did not inform his supervising pretrial services officer.”

Prosecutors had alleged that Goldstein transferred millions in cryptocurrency even as he claimed to be “destitute” in a bid to substitute properties owned by relatives as collateral to assure his future court appearances. Goldstein didn’t want to use the home that he owns with his wife, SCOTUSblog co-founder and reporter Amy Howe.

Goldstein had referenced a pretrial services report that said he had a negative net worth of more than $3.3 million in a motion that he filed under his signature Feb. 5. Goldstein said he wanted to use the equity in his home to pay for his lawyers.

Yet one of Goldstein’s bank accounts has a balance of $250,000, and he has been spending $20,000 per month for an apartment in Dallas, $5,000 per month for a housekeeper, and $8,000 per month on a personal assistant, prosecutors said.

See also:

Indicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein can’t switch collateral, magistrate judge rules

Poker-playing SCOTUSblog founder has net worth of negative $3.3M, criminal court document says

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