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WASHINGTON — <\/span>A prominent Supreme Court litigator who also published a popular blog about the nation’s highest court was convicted Wednesday of tax evasion and related charges stemming from his secretive lifestyle as an ultra-high-stakes poker player.<\/p>\n A federal jury found SCOTUSblog<\/a> co-founder Thomas Goldstein guilty of 12 of 16 counts<\/a> after a six-week trial<\/a> in Greenbelt, Maryland. Jurors deliberated for approximately two days before convicting Goldstein of one count of tax evasion, four of eight counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, four counts of willful failure to timely pay taxes, and three counts of false statements on loan applications.<\/p>\n Goldstein was charged with failing to pay taxes on millions of dollars in gambling income. Justice Department prosecutors also accused him of diverting money from his law firm to pay gambling debts and falsely deducting gambling debts as business expenses.<\/p>\n Goldstein argued more than 40 cases before the Supreme Court before retiring in 2023. He was part of the legal team that represented Democrat Al Gore in the Supreme Court litigation over the 2000 election ultimately won by Republican President George W. Bush. <\/p>\n Goldstein’s indictment a year ago sent shockwaves through the legal community in Washington, D.C. Many friends and colleagues didn’t know the extent of his gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cHe lied to everyone around him,\u201d Justice Department prosecutor Sean Beaty said during the trial\u2019s closing arguments.<\/p>\n Defense attorney Jonathan Kravis said the government rushed to judgment and failed to adequately investigate the case. Goldstein made \u201cinnocent mistakes\u201d on his tax returns but didn\u2019t cheat on his taxes or knowingly make false statements on his tax returns, Kravis told jurors.<\/p>\n \u201cA mistake is not a crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Beaty described Goldstein as a “willful tax cheat.\u201d Goldstein raked in approximately $50 million in poker winnings in 2016, including roughly $22 million that he won playing in Asia, according to Beaty. The prosecutor said the tax evasion scheme \u201cfell apart\u201d when another gambler, feeling cheated by Goldstein, notified the IRS about a 2016 debt owed to the attorney.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a textbook tax-evasion scheme,\u201d Beaty said. \u201cAnd Mr. Goldstein executed that nearly flawlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n