Goldstein Jury Told He Admitted to Understating Debt to Get Loan

SCOTUSBlog founder Tom Goldstein told a journalist that he understated his debts by millions of dollars when applying for a mortgage to keep them secret from his wife, the jury heard at his his trial on tax and false statement charges Thursday.

Excerpts from legal analyst and former prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin’s Dec. 28 New York Times Magazine article on Goldstein’s “double life” were read to the jury by agreement of the parties.

The jury also heard that he made certain admissions about his gambling in the article, including that he won about $50 million playing poker in 2016—and personally “cleared” around $12 million.

Though he still has many arguments to make challenging the tax charges, the admission about understating his debt could seal his fate on the three counts for making a false statement on a loan application.

The jury also heard from four witnesses Thursday, two of whom testified on behalf of the defense. Although the prosecution hasn’t rested, the parties worked out a deal to accommodate the witnesses’ schedules.

For the prosecution, IRS special agent John McDonald concluded his testimony about an October 2020 interview with Goldstein. They then called Maxwell Howell of MTA Title & Escrow LLC to testify about Goldstein’s closing on a new house in 2021. Howell walked jurors through closing documents, pointing out where Goldstein had represented on his application that he had no undisclosed debts.

Cross-examination of Howell was markedly brief, focusing on the fact that he doesn’t represent the mortgage company that issued the loan and can’t speak to whether there was any default. The defense appeared to be trying to signal to the jury that the lender wasn’t harmed.

Defense Sneak Peak

The defense witnesses were professional poker player Andrew Robl and Zachary Marks, a forensic accountant with FTI Consulting.

Robl’s testimony focused on Goldstein’s gambling activities in 2016 and on explaining how and why it’s possible that Goldstein took home much less than he won after paying out his backers.

On cross, the government tried to get testimony to support its theory that millions of dollars that Goldstein received from Paul Phua in 2018 constituted income, not loans as he told the IRS. Their questions suggested Phua, whom Robl said no longer travels to the US, needed to get creative when transacting with US poker players and owns “a” bank in Montenegro. It wasn’t clear, but they seemed to be suggesting it’s the same bank where Goldstein held his foreign accounts.

Marks testified as an expert to evaluate whether Goldstein’s accounting and tax preparation firm, GRF CPAs & Advisors, complied with professional standards.

He said it didn’t.

It didn’t make reasonable inquiries, ignored information provided by Goldstein and his law firm managers, and failed to provide competent tax advice, Marks said.

He highlighted instances where Goldstein or his staff affirmatively told GRF that an expenditure was personal, and GRF treated it as a business expense anyway.

He also pointed to directives from Goldstein and his staff that GRF “disregarded,” like Goldstein’s instruction that the firm file separate returns for him and his wife in 2021.

GRF also failed to disclose that Goldstein had foreign bank accounts in Montenegro, even though they’d been repeatedly advised of their existence.

Goldstein is represented by Munger Tolles & Olson LLP.

The case is United States v. Goldstein, D. Md., No. 8:25-cr-00006, trial held 2/5/26.