Tom Goldstein Rests Case in Tax Trial Over High-Stakes Poker Games

The protection rested its case in the course of the sixth week of the Tom Goldstein trial, setting the stage for closing arguments and jury deliberations within the high-profile federal tax case that has captivated the authorized and poker worlds.

Goldstein faces tax and mortgage fraud costs in a case that, for six weeks now, has featured testimony from billionaires, celebrities and poker professionals like Andrew Robl, who advised jurors about teaching and staking Goldstein in heads-up matches that produced $50 million in revenue.

The case has additionally supplied perception into different high-stakes matches Goldstein performed in opposition to distinguished poker gamers like Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Tony Gregg and Chamath Palihapitiya.

Bloomberg Regulation reported that Goldstein rested his protection on Tuesday after calling its remaining witness and that jury deliberations may start as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Goldstein Bolsters Robust Protection

With a decades-spanning popularity as a celebrity lawyer, nobody ought to’ve been stunned that Goldstein placed on a sturdy and multifaceted protection in his legal tax fraud trial in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Goldstein was initially indicted on 22 counts, however that narrowed to 16 as his trial acquired underway in January. The federal government’s tax fraud allegations in opposition to Goldstein then took a success throughout Week 4, when his accountant admitted throughout cross-examination to have made some errors in getting ready Goldstein’s tax returns, in addition to unintentionally offering incorrect details about Goldstein’s playing data to IRS investigators.

Expenses In opposition to Tom Goldstein

White collar legal protection legal professional Andrew Bernstein advised PokerNews the accountant’s cross-examination was “a possible large misstep” within the authorities’s case, which he described as “fairly sturdy” total.

Goldstein then made the dangerous transfer of taking the stand, opening himself as much as probably being grilled on cross examination. Not like Goldstein’s $385,000 racing wager with Dan Bilzerian, this guess might have paid off.

In a podcast interview, Bloomberg Regulation authorized reporter Holly Barker stated she believed Goldstein’s testimony — by which he denied ever deliberately evading taxes, defined the peculiarities of the playing world, and even claimed to have over-reported his playing earnings for 2016 — finally helped him.

“I actually do truly, on steadiness, assume it did assist him,” Barker stated in a Feb. 13 episode of the Bloomberg Regulation Podcast. “As a result of the jurors wanted somebody to fill in all of the gaps. Kind of to clarify how all the playing labored and to clarify how they’d swap debt, they’d maintain onto winnings for someone else for some time.”

Duffel Bag of $1 Million Money Was a Mortgage

Goldstein additionally undercut the federal government’s allegation that the $1 million in money he carried by means of customs was playing winnings. He supplied proof that the money was a mortgage from Malaysian gambler Paul Phua that he supposed to make use of to pay his taxes.

That proof included textual content messages reviewed by PokerNews that present Goldstein and Phua discussing two separate $1 million loans.

“Do you occur to know whether or not the rest of the mortgage can be comfortable with Richard?” Goldstein wrote in October 2018, doubtless referring to poker participant Richard Yong. “Apologies for the trouble. Simply acquired one other communication from the IRS.”

“We’re all dropping loads. I’ll see what may be accomplished on Monday,” responded the recipient, who was recognized as Phua in courtroom paperwork. Phua added, “Will one other million be sufficient ?”

In a courtroom submitting, Goldstein’s attorneys wrote that “this message immediately undercuts the federal government’s principle that the $1 million money Mr. Goldstein obtained from Mr. Phua in October 2018 represented playing winnings as a result of in that message thread — dated a few week earlier than Mr. Goldstein flew to Asia to retrieve the money — Mr. Goldstein explicitly asks Mr. Phua for a $1 million mortgage following ‘one other communication from the IRS.'”

What’s Forward in “Fascinating” Case?

Regardless of some missteps, the federal government constructed a complete case over a month of testimony from dozens of witnesses, together with Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire (who Goldstein helped recuperate a multimillion-dollar poker debt from Andy Beal), California actual property mogul Bob Safai (who Goldstein misplaced $14 million of his personal cash to), and billionaire Alec Gores (who Goldstein beat for a personal-best $26.4 million, most of which went to his backers).

The prosecution witnesses additionally included accountants, IRS investigators and mortgage lenders who testified that Goldstein hadn’t reported hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of playing money owed on house mortgage functions, which Goldstein admitted to however stated he did to cover the losses from his spouse.

Now that the prosecution and protection have rested their circumstances, the jury will hear closing arguments, which Bernstein advised PokerNews might be a spotlight of the trial consisting of “poker analogies and fireworks.”

“I believe the summations must be fascinating,” the authorized knowledgeable stated.

Doug Polk, himself a heads-up knowledgeable, broke down the case in a current YouTube video. “This case is fascinating, with so many particulars leaking out concerning the internal workings of the extremely high-stakes non-public recreation world,” Polk stated.

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

On this Sequence