One of my favorite shows was Breaking Bad, the curious case of dying chemistry teacher Walter White and his transformation into a methamphetamine kingpin and murderer.
While I will not put him on the same level, I’m amazed by the turn of events for Tom Goldstein, one of the most well-known Supreme Court attorneys in my generation.
Tom was two years ahead of me at the American University Washington College of Law. I met him a few times, and once when he was an associate at a well-known national law firm. Tom wanted to be a Supreme Court clerk. Since his resume wasn’t from Harvard or Yale Law School, he decided to become a well-known Supreme Court blogger and a law firm where his main practice was arguing before the Supreme Court.
So I’m a little shocked when Tom gets arrested for tax evasion. He tried to hide millions in gambling winnings and used law firm expenses to fund his poker losses. Poker was lucrative and he retired from his practice. Tom also seemed to hire girlfriends on his firm’s payroll, where they did little work and were there to just get health insurance. He was also buddies with social media star Dan Blizerian.
In law school, I knew some shady law students. I was in no shock when someone a year ahead of me, who was involved in a student law journal scandal I exposed was suspended from practice for lying to the FBI, 25 years later. Tom was the poster child for that law school, and I’m just amazed at how reckless he became. When it comes to tax evasion, you can steal little, you can never steal big. Phony expenses and evasion in the millions of dollars will get you arrested.
