It’s
been
a
whirlwind
week
for
the
SCOTUSblog
co-founder:
arrested
on
Monday,
banished
to
federal
lockup
on
Tuesday,
and
now
free
on
Thursday.
Goldstein,
the
Supreme
Court
litigator
charged
with
a
number
of
tax
and
fraud
claims
stemming
from
an
alleged
second
life
as
a
high-stakes
poker
fiend,
will
resume
his
prior
scheduled
release
with
several
additional
caveats
covering
his
use
of
electronic
devices.
IPPC,
which
is
like
ExamSoft
but
for
proctoring
pretrial
defendants,
will
have
its
software
installed
on
his
devices
to
remotely
monitor
his
computer
activity.
He
will
also
have
to
report
all
cryptocurrency
wallets
he
“owns,
has
access
to,
and/or
controls”
including
“hard
wallets
and
soft
wallets”
(whether
it’s
stored
on
hardware
or
software
for
the
folks
unfamiliar
with
fake
money).
The
focus
on
cryptocurrency
is
the
story
of
Goldstein’s
week,
having
gone
to
jail
after
prosecutors
deemed
him
a
flight
risk
upon
discovering
some $8
million
in
crypto
and
transfers
involving
$6
million
of
it
all
while
he
was
pleading
poverty
as
a
pro
se
in
an
effort
to
convince
the
court
to
let
him
use
his
house
—
which
the
indictment
identifies
as
a
product
of
mortgage
fraud
—
to
hire
lawyers.
Now
represented
by
Munger
Tolles,
Goldstein
argued
that
those
wallets
didn’t
belong
to
him
and
the
government
couldn’t
prove
he
did
anything
but
send
money
to
them
in
the
past.
Emails
like
“tom
need
to
wire
USDC
to
me,
please
give
him
a
address,”
Goldstein
argued
do
not
establish
that
he
owned
the
wallets
involved
in
these
transactions
and,
if
anything,
proved
that
he
didn’t
because
—
basically
—
“If
Mr.
Goldstein
shared
ownership
of
the
wallet,
then
there
would
have
been
no
need
for
the
individual
requesting
the
payment
to
instruct
[REDACTED]
to
‘give’
Mr.
Goldstein
‘a
address’
to
send
the
payment.”
That
proved
enough
for
Chief
Magistrate
Judge
Timothy
Sullivan
to
grant
Goldstein’s
release
with
assurances
that
no
one
would
be
blindsided
by
additional
crypto
transactions.
It
goes
without
saying
that
the
revised
order
includes
an
edict
that
the
defendant
not
“access,
receive,
send,
and/or
transfer
any
cryptocurrencies.”
But,
for
now,
Goldstein
will
have
to
put
off
any
nascent
jailhouse
lawyer
aspirations.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.