SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein will represent himself after he was indicted on charges of tax fraud and false statements to a lender in January, according to court filings.
After Goldstein was arrested on Monday for violating his conditions of bond, the US District Court for the District of Maryland held an attorney inquiry hearing and issued an order of detention. The order of detention said a separate order will follow on Goldstein’s “decision to represent himself in this case.”
He’d said that he couldn’t afford to pay counsel, short of leveraging the equity in his marital residence—a property the government says is subject to forfeiture if he’s convicted.
The house had been put up as collateral to ensure his appearance in the case.
Goldstein’s bond violations involved failing to disclose two cryptocurrency wallets and transferring funds without prior pretrial services approval.
Several lawyers—including John Lauro of Lauro & Singer—had entered limited appearances for Goldstein in the case. And, Lauro, along with Chris Kise of Continental PLLC, had issued statements on Goldstein’s behalf.
The case is United States v. Goldstein, D. Md., No. 8:25-cr-00006, 2/11/25.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
Learn About Bloomberg Law
AI-powered legal analytics, workflow tools and premium legal & business news.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.