Wrong arm of the law; it all comes out in the wash; human nature and other highlights of recent tax cases.
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Washington, DC: A prominent Supreme Court litigator who also published a popular blog about the nation’s highest court was convicted of tax evasion and related charges stemming from his secretive lifestyle as an ultra-high-stakes poker player.
A federal jury found SCOTUS blog co-founder Thomas Goldstein guilty 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.
The trial included testimony by “Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire, an avid poker player who enlisted Goldstein’s help in recovering a gambling debt from a billionaire.
Goldstein was charged with failing to pay taxes on millions of dollars in gambling income. He was also accused of diverting money from his law firm to pay gambling debts and falsely deducting gambling debts as business expenses.
Goldstein’s indictment a year ago sent shockwaves through the legal community in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors have not said what sentence they will seek. He faces a maximum prison term of five years for tax evasion, up to 30 years for his alleged false statements to mortgage lenders, and additional potential prison time for assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and willful failure to pay taxes.
Miami: A Port Saint Lucie tax preparer was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for defrauding taxpayers of more than $175,000 and attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship by concealing his crimes from immigration officials.
Wislet Metayer, 45, was ordered to pay $167,792.45 in restitution. A federal jury in West Palm Beach previously convicted Metayer of 32 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and one count of making a false statement related to naturalization.
Metayer worked as a professional tax preparer from approximately 2019 through 2025. To attract customers and justify inflated preparation fees, Metayer prepared and filed dozens of federal income tax returns containing false business losses, deductions and credits — without his customers’ knowledge — in order to increase their refunds.
Metayer is a Haitian national and lawful permanent resident of the U.S. In March 2024, while his tax fraud scheme was ongoing, Metayer applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Metayer concealed his ongoing criminal conduct and falsely denied committing any such offenses.
Metayer will be subject to removal from the U.S. after completing his prison sentence.
Los Angeles: Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, 58, a.k.a. “Pollie,” of Rancho Cucamonga, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for receiving a $2.1 million bribe. He was also found guilty of three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion and one count of obstruction of justice.
Okoronkwo, a lawyer, accepted the bribe while serving as an officer of Nigeria’s state-owned oil company in connection with negotiating favorable drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil company.
Okoronkwo was also ordered to pay $923,824 in restitution to the IRS and ordered to forfeit $1,039,997, the net proceeds of the sale of a home involved in the laundering of the bribe money.
After receiving the bribe, between February 2016 and 2018, Okoronkwo routed funds to a company called IPO Capital LLC. From there, he used the bribery funds to pay for family expenses and a car. In November 2017, Okoronkwo used $983,200 of the illegally obtained funds to make down payments on a house.
Okoronkwo also omitted the $2.1 million bribe payment from his 2015 federal income tax return. He also obstructed justice in June 2022 when he lied to federal investigators when he told them he did not use any of the $2.1 million to purchase a house and that the money represented client funds rather than income to his law office.
In January 2026, the State Bar of California suspended Okoronkwo’s law license.
Boston: The former president of the Massachusetts State Police union, Dana Pullman, and the union’s former lobbyist, Anne Lynch, were sentenced for racketeering, fraud, obstruction of justice and tax crimes.
Pullman, who was a state trooper from 1987 to 2018, became the union’s president in 2012. During his tenure, Lynch’s lobbying firm represented the union. Prosecutors found that Pullman and Lynch stole money from the union, with Pullman using the union’s debit card for personal expenses. Lynch also paid Pullman a $20,000 kickback related to a union settlement, which they hid to avoid paying taxes.
Pullman was sentenced to two years in prison and Lynch received 15 months, with both ordered to pay restitution.
San Francisco: Gwendolyn Westbrook, the former CEO of the United Council for Human Services, is accused of living a lavish lifestyle using money that was supposed to go to the unhoused.
Westbrook faced nine felony charges including grand theft, embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, fraud, and tax evasion connected to her time leading the UCHS.
The charges stem from an investigation by the city attorney and an audit of grant funds sent to the UCHS between 2019 and 2023.
Prosecutors allege Westbrook misappropriated at least $1.2 million, and used the money to support a lavish lifestyle, including high-end cars, jewelry and luxury goods.
Westbrook is due back in court on March 9 to be formally charged.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Myles Benjamin Depew, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The Cape Girardeau man admitted he stole client identities to obtain pandemic relief loans, state benefits and fraudulent tax refunds totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Depew used his position as a tax preparer to access clients’ names, birthdates and Social Security numbers, then used that information without permission. Depew admitted to using the identity of one person in June 2020 to apply for and receive an $11,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
The next month, Depew used another person’s identity to fraudulently obtain a second EIDL loan for $14,000. He later used a third person’s identity to open a checking account at a bank based in West Virginia.
According to TIGTA, Depew stole the identities of 10 to 15 people, using their information to fraudulently apply for approximately $50,000 in benefits from the state of Missouri.
Depew spent the money on gambling, food and methamphetamine.
Depew is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26. Wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a fine of as much as $1 million or both prison and a fine. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, to be served consecutive to any sentence on the wire fraud counts, and a fine of up to $250,000.
