Goldstein Denied in Bid for Post-Conviction Acquittal, New Trial

Well-known US Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein lost his motion for acquittal or a new trial following his conviction on tax and loan-fraud charges connected to his high-stakes gambling habit.

Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ruled from the bench Tuesday in Greenbelt, Md., and said a written opinion will come later. Although she acknowledged there may have been some errors at trial, she said Goldstein hadn’t been prejudiced by them.

“I don’t really feel the case was all that close, to be perfectly candid,” she said.

Griggsby, who sits in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, acknowledged that it was a technical violation of criminal procedural rules to alter the jury instructions after the parties delivered their closing arguments. But, she said, she doesn’t see any evidence that the defense’s ability to present its case was affected.

She also said the defense offered persuasive arguments that a gambling ledger and text messages that Goldstein said documented his wins and losses and informed his thinking at the time shouldn’t have been excluded from the trial. But even assuming they should have come in as evidence, she said she doesn’t think the error affected the outcome.

Biden-era Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, now with Cooley LLP, did most of the arguing for the defense. She joined Goldstein’s team post-verdict.

Goldstein was found guilty in February on one count of tax evasion, four counts of willful failure to timely pay taxes, three counts of making a false statement on a loan application, and four out of eight counts of aiding and assisting in preparation of a false tax return. The jury found him not guilty on four other counts.

Prosecutors are seeking an eight-year prison term, while Goldstein has asked the court for a non-custodial sentence. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 24.

Goldstein is under home-confinement pending his sentencing, and US Probation & Pretrial Services has said it would be appropriate to allow him to self-surrender when and if he heads to prison.

The government contended he remains a flight risk, but Goldstein told the court his current probation report rated his compliance with the terms of his release as satisfactory and identified no concerns.

Goldstein also disputed the government’s suggestion that he gambled after he was indicted in mid-January 2025. Although he gambled in 2025, he said it was before he was charged, and that he disclosed as much to Pretrial Services.

He also denied that he filed a false tax return in 2025, something the government has repeatedly alleged in court papers but wasn’t among the charges in the case. That’s “totally false,” his lawyer Stephany Reaves told the court.

Reaves is with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. Goldstein is also represented by Liu Shur Kravis LLP.

The case is United States v. Goldstein, D. Md., No., hearing held 6/16/26.