What Legal Expert Says About Tom Goldstein Taking the Stand

Tom Goldstein has by no means been afraid to take dangers. His buddy Dan Bilzerian as soon as described the famous person lawyer and high-stakes poker participant as “my maniac bluff-happy lawyer” who would make wild performs with massive sums of cash on the road.

And, this week, Goldstein took a threat by making the weird resolution to testify in his personal prison tax fraud trial in Maryland. The choice, which opened him as much as being grilled by prosecutors throughout cross-examination, shocked a few of these within the authorized world following the case, together with a white collar prison protection lawyer who gave his response and evaluation to PokerNews.

“I used to be shocked. I am at all times shocked when a defendant testifies, as a result of there’s at all times dangerous stuff on the market (that may come up),” Andrew Bernstein of Fox Rothschild advised PokerNews in an interview on Thursday. “However this can be the proper resolution, particularly if he will get an acquittal.”

Why Testify?

Bernstein mentioned prison defendants have a constitutional proper to take the stand however are sometimes suggested in opposition to doing so. Within the case of Goldstein, who’s accused of tax and mortgage fraud associated to high-stakes poker matches, Bernstein mentioned testifying is dangerous as a result of “the federal government has this man’s tax returns, they’ve all his paperwork … If he will get up there, they’ll cross-examine him on any of these things.”

The US Division of Justice’s known as over a dozen witnesses and painted Goldstein as a lavish spender and a reckless gambler. Bernstein mentioned Goldstein and his authorized workforce possible determined he wanted to “stand up there and provides a story” to make himself “likable” and relatable to the jury.

“I believe the testifying on this case goes to be big, as a result of I believe a variety of the tax proof … that tax stuff might not resonate with the jury. The tax regulation is sophisticated, tax regulation at that stage could be very sophisticated, so the entire testifying scenario — is he likable, is he credible, did he give himself a idea that the jury understands? I believe that is what this comes all the way down to.”

In his protection testimony on Wednesday, Goldstein denied ever dishonest on his taxes however advised jurors that he downplayed his $15 million in playing money owed on mortgage purposes, stating that he “didn’t need my spouse to know in regards to the scope of my playing money owed.”

Throughout cross-examination on Thursday, prosecutors pressed Goldstein about mendacity to his spouse, in addition to to his backer Stewart Resnick and his heads-up opponent Alec Gores. Based on Bloomberg Legislation, Goldstein admitted that he “might have understated” the identification of his poker coach Keith Gipson when Gipson attended their heads-up matches.

Prosecutors additionally introduced up Goldstein’s lavish spending regardless of owing taxes, Bloomberg Legislation reported, together with a $225,000 Bentley and a $190,000 Hollywood house he rented in 2017, apparently to spend extra time in California enjoying in opposition to Gores.

What’s Forward within the Trial

“I am unable to think about a universe the place his attorneys had been okay with that.”

Testifying wasn’t the primary transfer by Goldstein that caught Bernstein off guard. He mentioned “it shocked me quite a bit” when Goldstein gave a tell-all interview to authorized analyst Jeffrey Toobin for a New York Occasions Journal story proper earlier than the trial started — some excerpts of which had been learn to the jury.

“I am unable to think about a universe the place his attorneys had been okay with that,” mentioned Bernstein. “I do not like to invest and put myself within the footwear of different attorneys after I do not know all of the details, however that is a type of conditions the place I do not see the profit. It is not like he was happening there to say ‘I by no means performed poker. I used to be simply there carpooling as a result of I am an excellent samaritan.’ I used to be shocked that he did that.”

“Why have a self-inflicted gunshot wound? Why say something?”

Bernstein described the prosecution’s case in opposition to Goldstein as a “robust case,” although he acknowledged a “massive weak spot” after Goldstein’s accountant admitted throughout cross-examination to creating some errors.

“I believe the summations must be fascinating.”

“That’s clearly a possible big misstep within the sense that if the jury actually thinks that the accountant made some errors, they could really feel there’s cheap doubt as as to if Tom understood what was happening,” Bernstein mentioned.

The prosecution wrapped up its case earlier this week and the protection will resume presenting on Monday. Berstein mentioned he anticipated the closing arguments from each events to be a serious spotlight of a high-profile trial that has included “a variety of stuff with poker, a variety of stuff with celebrities, a variety of embarrassing stuff.”

“I believe the summations must be fascinating,” Bernstein mentioned, noting that he anticipated closing arguments to incorporate “poker analogies and fireworks.”

Goldstein has pleaded not responsible to all prices, which embrace tax evasion, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to 2 separate mortgage lenders.

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outdoors Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for 3 World Poker Awards for his writing.

On this Sequence