Single Shot; don’t do drugs; not so Niceville; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
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Chevy Chase, Maryland: Thomas C. Goldstein, a prominent appellate attorney who argued more than 40 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and co-founded the widely read legal website SCOTUSblog, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for tax crimes and mortgage fraud.
Goldstein, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was the sole owner of Goldstein & Russell PC, a boutique law firm specializing in appellate litigation, including litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court. Goldstein was also a high-stakes poker player, frequently playing in games involving tens of millions of dollars.
Between 2016 and 2024, Goldstein repeatedly chose not to pay taxes on time. He also assisted in the preparation of false tax returns for himself and his law firm, and he engaged in a scheme to evade taxes for 2016. Goldstein carried out the scheme by hiding millions of dollars in poker winnings from the government and his accountants, diverting legal fees to his personal bank account to satisfy poker-related debts, directing people to pay his creditors instead of sending payments directly to him, channeling gambling winnings through foreign bank accounts and causing personal payments for poker debts to be falsely classified as “legal fee” expenses on the firm’s books and records. As a result, Goldstein underreported his income and did not pay much of the taxes that he owed, while spending millions on personal expenses such as poker, travel and luxury goods.
In 2021, Goldstein submitted false mortgage applications to two separate mortgage lending companies, seeking financing to purchase a $2.6 million home in Washington, D.C. On those mortgage applications — which required Goldstein to list all his liabilities and debts — Goldstein omitted millions of dollars of liabilities, including more than $14 million he owed for poker-related debts, as well as taxes he owed the IRS. Goldstein’s false statements to one of the mortgage lenders enabled him to obtain a $1.98 million loan.
Goldstein was convicted of tax evasion, assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, willful failure to timely pay taxes and making false statements to mortgage lenders.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, Goldstein was ordered to serve five years of supervised release, and to pay $3,103,427 in restitution.
Springfield, Missouri: A Springfield man was sentenced in federal court on one count of wire fraud and one count of filing false tax returns.
Ray Leonard Marple, 63, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for each count, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release. Marple was also ordered to pay $415,481.50 to the victim of his embezzlement and $86,210.84 to the IRS, for a total of $501,692.34 in restitution. A final order of forfeiture for $415,481.50 was also issued.
Marple used his position as a CPA to serve as executor of a trust for a family. In that role, he made numerous financial transactions that resulted in the embezzlement of $415,481.50.
Marple also filed false tax returns in 2018, 2019 and 2020, in which he understated the amount of income he earned during those years. As a result, he owes the United States $86,210.84 in unpaid income taxes.
Charlotte, North Carolina: A North Carolina woman was ordered to serve a year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release for her willful failure to account for and pay over almost $1 million in employment taxes on behalf of her business.
Brenda Wymer owned and operated Haven Home Care Inc., a North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, company that provided home healthcare services. Wymer exercised control over HHC’s business and financial affairs and was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes from HHC’s employees and paying over those funds to the IRS.
Between 2015 and 2024, Wymer caused HHC to withhold taxes from her employees’ paychecks but did not file tax returns accounting for these withholdings and did not pay this money to the IRS. Instead, she kept those tax funds for herself and her business.
Wymer pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes. In total, Wymer caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $973,000.
In addition to her prison sentence, Wymer was ordered to pay $973,727.04 in restitution to the U.S.
Tampa, Florida: Leeman Brown has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aiding and assisting false and fraudulent tax returns. Brown pleaded guilty on Oct. 27, 2025.
Brown conspired with others to smuggle methamphetamine, hidden in packages in the mail, from California to the Tampa area. At the same time, Brown submitted more than 80 false tax returns to the IRS that included fraudulent amounts of gambling losses, winnings and federal income tax withholdings. The submissions requested large refunds from the IRS to which taxpayers are not entitled. Brown earned over $260,000 in proceeds from the scheme.
Seattle: Employees at Capitol Hill restaurant Single Shot had more than $1 million taken from their paychecks — money that their employer withheld but didn’t pay to the IRS.
Single Shot Kitchen and Saloon owner Ruadhri “Rory” McCormick entered a plea agreement admitting to withholding and not paying to the IRS a total of $1,446,341 from 2014 to 2024. It amounted to $1 million in payroll taxes and $400,000 in the employer portions of Social Security, Medicare and federal unemployment taxes.
McCormick was charged with tax fraud. The charges are punishable by up to five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Additionally, McCormick admitted that he did not file his personal income taxes from 2015 through 2024. The restaurant owner has agreed to pay the full amount owed, as restitution to the IRS.
Pensacola, Florida: Sidney Marc Wilson Jr., 48, of Niceville, Florida, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud; mail fraud; wire fraud; money laundering; and subscribing to materially false tax returns.
Wilson operated an online scheme falsely promising victims returns on investments into his purported sales affiliate programs. Victims invested anywhere between $3,000 and $21,000 to be a part of what Wilson claimed would be a way for the victims to make significant amounts of money. However, after the victims mailed or wired Wilson their investments, he simply kept the money or gave some of it to his conspirators — the victims did not receive a return on their purported investments. When the victims tried to contact Wilson as to why they were not receiving any returns on their investments, they never heard back from him. Through this scheme, Wilson fraudulently obtained millions of dollars he was not entitled to receive. Some of the ill-gotten money was laundered through real property and cryptocurrency transactions. In addition, Wilson filed false federal income tax returns significantly understating his income for multiple years.
Once released from federal prison, Wilson will serve a three-year term of supervision. During that time, he will be required to pay restitution to the victims, as well as more than $500,000 in owed taxes to the United States Treasury.
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