Tom Goldberg

Background

Tom Goldberg is a founding partner of the law firm Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster in The Exchange, Algonquin. He is a regular legal expert on Weazel News and is publicly praised for human rights and charity work, including teaching disadvantaged boys to swim. His firm's own case studies paint a darker picture: many of his famous cases were baseless or ruined whole families over minor offenses, and the wording about his swimming lessons strongly implies he is a predator.

Events of Grand Theft Auto IV

In 2008 Goldberg uncovers Francis McReary's corruption and hopes the case will help him win a seat in the US Congress. Niko Bellic kills a blackmailer who was offering evidence against Francis, but Goldberg has already obtained some of the photos. In Final Interview, Francis sends Niko to the firm posing as a job applicant. During the meeting Goldberg calls Francis a good cop yet promises to crush him. Niko threatens him, makes him reveal where the files are, takes them and kills him. His partner Dick Shyster later tells the Liberty Tree he will take over most of Goldberg's cases.

Trivia

• If Niko draws a gun without aiming at him, Goldberg quips that video games, not guns, kill people, a line often linked to anti-game activist Jack Thompson.
• Killing him with a knife does not alert the receptionist Karen, security or the police.
• He is voiced by Jonathan Hanst and is mentioned in Episodes from Liberty City.