A convicted Wall Street fraudster once labeled New York’s No. 1 tax deadbeat has been enjoying a lavish life in California while his tax liability has climbed to $59.1 million, The Post has learned. Daniel Gordon now runs a charity praised by Gov. Gavin Newsom and promotes erectile dysfunction medication, despite continuing to evade the enormous bill.
Gordon, a former Merrill Lynch trader who pleaded guilty in 2003 to defrauding the bank of $43 million through an elaborate wire-fraud scheme, lives with his wife, Kate, in a 10,495-square-foot property near Palm Springs. California tax records place the Rancho Mirage home’s value at more than $5 million.
The sprawling estate sits in the exclusive desert community, once home to figures including Frank Sinatra, Bill Gates and President Gerald Ford. A real estate listing highlights its sunken tennis court, three-hole putting green and resort-style swimming pool, complete with cascading waterfalls and a swim-up bar.
Now 50, Gordon has recast himself as a California philanthropist through Gordon Philanthropies, a charity focused on prison reform. He has appeared in television interviews and posed for photo opportunities with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Department of Corrections, while his website features images of him at ribbon-cuttings and other charitable events.
In November 2024, Gordon received an enthusiastic letter from Gov. Newsom. Addressed to “Daniel,” the message included a large handwritten “Thank you!” above the governor’s signature and is prominently displayed on Gordon Philanthropies’ Facebook page.
“Thank you again for your generous contributions,” Newsom wrote. “I look forward to your continued partnership.”
Gordon and Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment. California prison officials also declined to answer questions about Gordon’s criminal history and massive tax debt, instead pointing to regulations that allow the department to accept private donations.
The California lifestyle follows years of scrutiny over Gordon’s unpaid taxes. In 2016, New York tax authorities identified him as the state’s biggest tax dodger, placing him at the top of their “Top 100” list with $25.1 million in outstanding warrants. Officials told The Post at the time that they intended to track him down and collect the money.
Nearly a decade later, two active tax warrants filed in Albany County total $59,141,763.16.
The debt stems from Gordon’s attempted theft from Merrill Lynch. At 24, the Yale graduate deceived his supervisors into wiring $43 million to an offshore shell company, then took the money through a phony insurance transaction.
Although Gordon was ordered in 2003 to return the stolen fortune, federal and New York tax authorities also sought taxes on the proceeds. Under tax law, stolen money can be treated as taxable income. Interest and penalties have since pushed the liability far beyond the original amount.
At a 2013 bankruptcy trial, Gordon acknowledged under oath that he had avoided more than $34 million in back taxes. He testified that the IRS had made clear that returning the $43 million did not eliminate his tax obligation: “Under our laws you owe us taxes … regardless of the fact that it was repaid.”
His guilty pleas did not erase the tax debt. When tax authorities continued pursuing him, Gordon turned to bankruptcy court in an effort to obtain relief.
In a sharply worded 2015 ruling, US Bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber rejected Gordon’s attempt to discharge his personal liabilities through Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The judge found that Gordon had fraudulently concealed $3.1 million in assets and lied under oath, describing his explanations as claims that “insulted the intelligence of the court.”
Evidence presented at the trial showed that Gordon had transferred $2 million to a fictitious Nevada shell company with no employees, office or accounting records. Judge Gerber was also taken aback when Gordon’s lawyer confirmed that the former trader had charged ex-New York Knicks center Eddy Curry an 89.79% interest rate on a $570,000 loan. The debt grew to $2 million in only 18 months.
Gordon told the court he had only $3,147 to his name. Yet he also acknowledged paying $19,000 a month for an Upper East Side apartment and spending $140,000 on a summer rental in the Hamptons. The Manhattan lease had been concealed through a corporate entity.
Despite the publicity surrounding Gordon’s case, New York officials have still not filed the routine paperwork needed to collect the vast tax debt, The Post has learned. That inaction continued even after a whistleblower alerted authorities more than two years ago.
Leaked emails obtained by The Post indicate that state investigators took no apparent action after receiving a detailed guide to more than $26 million in assets allegedly connected to Gordon.
In March 2024, a whistleblower sent multiple tips to the internal affairs division of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance. The source, a Texas entrepreneur who asked not to be identified because of death threats, has been involved in a contentious legal dispute with Gordon.
One email identified “$4.1mm dollars in non-exempt California Real Estate in addition to the 22mm worth of shares of stock in public companies,” according to the whistleblower.
“I would really like the state of New York, at least, to get their money back,” the tipster wrote.
The tipster even pointed state investigators to an address right in their own backyard: a stock transfer agent at 1 State St. in Lower Manhattan holding shares tied to a Gordon-linked corporate vehicle.
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A New York tax investigator, identified in the messages only as Inv. Politylo, replied promising to “forward this to the appropriate department.”
More than two years later, however, county records show New York has yet to record a single lien against the Rancho Mirage mansion. Empire State tax warrants expire after 20 years, meaning Albany has already blown half the clock to collect.
Darren Dopp, a spokesman for the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, declined to comment on what efforts the agency under Gov. Kathy Hochul has made to collect the $59.1 million, citing state tax secrecy laws.
Thanks to a bureaucratic rule, New York drops deadbeats from its “Top 100” list if officials fail to file a fresh warrant in 12 months, Dopp said. Debtors can also drop off the list by challenging an assessment, cutting a deal, dying, or declaring bankruptcy.
Edward Zelinsky, a tax professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, said tracking down Gordon’s California assets should be straightforward for New York’s top lawyers.
“This is certainly something that should be within the routine competence of the New York attorney general, particularly for large judgments where it would be financially feasible to acquire help from counsel in the other state,” he said.
A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James insisted the state’s top prosecutor can’t lift a finger unless tax officials formally hand over the file.
“The Department of Taxation and Finance is the primary enforcement agency in matters involving outstanding public tax debts unless a referral is made to the Office of the Attorney General,” James spokeswoman Alexis Richards said.
“Per the Post’s own reporting, the Department issued warrants for Mr. Gordon’s state tax debts. That is the end of the story here, but unfortunately The Post seems determined to disparage the critical work the Office of the Attorney General does every day to protect New Yorkers and their wallets,” she added.
The Tax Department, for its part, claimed it never sends collection cases to James’ office.
“The AG’s office is not involved in the case,” Dopp said. “The AG’s office does not handle our collections matters.”
“It’s very unusual,” added Timothy Noonan, a partner at Hodgson Russ LLP. “I would think a taxpayer like that would be high on the radar screen.”
When tax deadbeats flee the state, tax authorities “can authorize the Attorney General to pursue collection anywhere else,” Noonan said. Specifically, by “domesticating the warrant” in California, Albany could turn its New York tax tab into a local court judgment overnight, freeze Gordon’s bank accounts and seize his desert mansion, Noonan said.
Generally, there is no law that prevents the AG and the tax department from picking up the phone to coordinate, said Steven Goldburd, a managing partner at Manhattan tax firm Goldburd McCone LLP.
“Governments are all about going after low-hanging fruit,” he said. “It is infinitely easier to attack a $2,000 tax bill of a taxpayer that will likely never fight back than the multimillion-dollar tax bill of a legally well-armed taxpayer that will.”
Still, while a wealthy tax dodger can employ high-priced consultants to shield themselves from collection and delay enforcement, “an LLC is a legal barrier, not a magic cloak,” former Manhattan DA asset forfeiture chief Duncan Levin told The Post.
“New York cannot simply grab company assets to pay an owner’s personal tax bill,” Levin said. “But if the company is really his personal piggy bank, that barrier may come down.”
Levin added that Gordon’s California palace could be a much easier target because it sits in his own name, though seizing real estate requires a court order.
“A $5 million house is not a $5 million check,” Levin said. “The state’s job is to turn a tax warrant into a recovery. You don’t collect a debt by admiring the size of it.”
Meanwhile, Gordon stays busy in California. Corporate filings show his charity, his penny stock outfit Polomar Health Services, and his GLD Partners investment arm all operate out of the same Los Angeles office suite.
SEC records show he holds 49% voting control at Polomar, which recently spent more than $193,000 buying “Wafesil” — a dissolving sildenafil erection drug — directly from another firm Gordon controls.
Disclosures reveal Polomar has also been pushing an “inhalable sildenafil” program: essentially an asthma-style rescue inhaler loaded with generic Viagra.