Testimony wrapped up last week in the federal court trial of Supreme Court attorney and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein in Greenbelt, Maryland. The jury is in deliberations.
There were several well-known people mentioned during the trial. Some took the witness stand and brought more details about Goldstein’s high-stakes poker exploits to light.
Goldstein was indicted in January 2025 on charges of tax evasion, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to two mortgage lenders in relation to high-stakes poker winnings.
Andy Beal & Toby Maguire
Some of the evidence revealed during the trial included information about Goldstein engaging in high-stakes, heads-up matches against Andy Beal. Beal is the billionaire banker from Dallas, who famously battled against a host of poker pros in the 2000s. That string of games against players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and other well-known pros inspired the Michael Craig book, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time.
Like the pros, Goldstein fared well against Beal. According to PokerNews, testimony revealed Goldstein won more than $51 million from Beal dating back to 2022.
Goldstein said in a New York Times magazine article last year that he met Beal at a poker game in Costa Rica. Goldstein claimed to have used four women to help entice the billionaire to play.
Beal was listed only as “the Southerner” in the article, but prosecutors used his name in evidence presented in court. According to Goldstein, the matches with Beal allowed him to retire from practicing law in 2023.
“I was beating him,” he told the magazine. “And that was just a way more interesting life.”
The trial also revealed Beal’s match with Toby Maguire in December 2019. The actor, who testified in the trial, reportedly won $15.6 million from the banker. Additionally, documents claimed that Beal “refused to pay the full amount owed to Mr. Maguire following the match.”
The Spider-Man star later hired Goldstein to help recover the funds. Goldstein advised Maguire to file a lawsuit against Beal to recover his winnings.
Beal eventually paid Maguire in June 2020, and Goldstein netted a $500,000 fee for his services.
Beal and Goldstein reportedly became friends, and the poker matches began soon after.
Pro Poker Coaches
Beyond the winnings against the Dallas banker, Goldstein also secured wins of $50 million against billionaire private equity investor Alec Gores and two foreign players. High-stakes regular Andrew Robles coached Goldstein in those matches, according to testimony, and staked some of his action. He testified in court about their relationship.
Robl said he struck up a friendship with the attorney around 2010. Poker pro Keith Gipson and Phil Galfond also helped coach Goldstein as well, according to testimony.
“I thought I could train him to beat Alec Gores and invest in it and make some money from it,” said Robl, who pocketed about $3 million for his services.
Gores also testified in the trial about his interactions with Goldstein.
Additionally, Robl staked Goldstein for some of his matches in Asia against other players, including a “wealthy individual from China.” Robl said he lost money in that deal, however. Goldstein’s attorneys noted that the majority of the $50 million in winnings during this time actually went to backers.
During his testimony, Robl indicated that Goldstein still owed him $1.5 million, which included from losses at a game at actor and comedian Kevin Hart’s birthday party in Mykonos, Greece, in July 2024.
More Opponents Revealed
Along with Hart, Beal, and Maguire, the trial revealed that Goldstein also played against two-time World Series of Poker Championship winner Dan “Jungleman” Cates and billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya.
California real estate developer Bob Safari also played against Goldstein in 2017, winning $14 million. Safari testified that he had trouble collecting his winnings from the 56-year-old attorney.
Other opponents listed include poker pro Tony Gregg, California businessman Alfred Decarolis, billionaire California businessman Stewart Resnick, and high-stakes regular Rick Salomon.
Opponents have described the attorney as a highly aggressive “maniac” at the table, including energy-trading hedge fund manager Bill Perkins.
“It was also kind of unnerving,” Perkins said. “You don’t feel like losing 600 big blinds, and you’re kind of wondering, ‘Did this guy just play some random hand? Or does he have something?’ He put you into awkward scenarios, but you learn that when guys over-bluff, it’s always correct to embrace the volatility and call.”
Failure To Report
Prosecutors allege that Goldstein never revealed his winnings adequately to his accountant and failed to pay taxes on them.
In 2018, Goldstein allegedly played in high-stakes games in Macau. He returned to the US with a duffle bag filled with $1 million in cash. Authorities said he declared the money but failed to report the winnings on his tax return for that year.
Prosecutors further allege he improperly used legal fees paid to his Maryland law firm for high-stakes poker and to pay gambling debts. From 2016 to 2022, the indictment further says the lawyer was involved in “intimate relationships with at least a dozen women,” and used funds from the firm to pay for expenses and travel related to those relationships. Some women were paid as employees despite performing “little or no work for the firm.”
Goldstein pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and has said he has a negative $3 million net worth.
“Mr. Goldstein is a prominent attorney with an impeccable reputation,” his attorneys John Lauro and Christopher Kise told CNBC after the initial indictment.
“We are deeply disappointed that the government brought these charges in a rush to judgment without understanding all of the important facts. Our client intends to vigorously contest these charges and we expect he will be exonerated at trial.”
