Prosecutors
Prosecutors ‘gravely injured’ his reputation with misleading assertions, SCOTUSblog founder Goldstein says
SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein is alleging that federal prosecutors “seriously misled the court” and should be rebuked for misstatements in public filings in a tax fraud case against him. (Photo by Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Updated: SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein is alleging that federal prosecutors “seriously misled the court” and should be rebuked for misstatements in public filings in a tax fraud case against him.
Goldstein criticized the government in a bid to compel production of grand jury testimony from an office manager who received an offer of cryptocurrency and other compensation from Goldstein. The government had characterized the compensation as an apparent attempt to influence a witness, an assertion contested by Goldstein in a March 18 document filed in federal court for the District of Maryland.
Goldstein’s court filing said his reputation was “gravely injured by the government’s false and misleading allegations in public filings,” including allegations that he likely tried to bribe the potential witness.
Goldstein said the court should address at a March 25 hearing “whether sanctions against the government are warranted—in the form of a rebuking the government on the record—for its lack of candor.”
Bloomberg Law and Law360 have coverage.
Goldstein, a former high-stakes poker player and U.S. Supreme Court litigator, has been accused in a federal indictment of hiding millions of dollars in income and cryptocurrency transactions on tax returns. He is also accused of using his boutique law firm to help cover his debts and of making false statements to mortgage lenders.
Prosecutors made allegations about attempting to influence a witness while seeking to keep in place conditions of Goldstein’s pretrial release.
The witness was a manager who had decided to leave Goldstein’s former firm, Goldstein & Russell. Prosecutors had said Goldstein was apparently trying to influence the manager when he offered the departing employee a $10,000 bonus, student loan payments and cryptocurrency.
After Goldstein sought disclosure of the grand jury testimony, the government said in a court filing the witness “has explained that defendant did not suggest that the witness not assist in the investigation, and the witness cannot testify as to defendant’s subjective intent.”
Goldstein’s lawyers characterized those caveats as a “belated confession” that discloses “exculpatory witness testimony” by the manager.
Goldstein also said there is another explanation for offering compensation to the manager: to retain the manager to assist the firm in gathering materials responsive to government subpoenas.
Goldstein’s court filing also criticized the government for alleged “false and misleading allegations” that he “used cryptocurrency accounts in violation of his release conditions” and “that he has access to millions of dollars in secret cryptocurrency accounts.”
The government’s lack of candor on the witness issue is “part of a broader pattern of misleading statements and omissions in the litigation over Mr. Goldstein’s release conditions,” the court filing said.
Updated March 27 at 10:37 a.m. to report that the office manager received an offer of cryptocurrency and compensation.
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