Goldfine was born in October 1889 in Russia, the son of Samuel Goldfine, a junk dealer, and his wife, Ida. Goldfine's father emigrated from Russia to the United States in the early 1890's, and Goldfine, his mother, and his siblings followed about three years later in the steerage section of the SS Rotterdam. The family settled in a tenement in East Boston.
Goldfine attended Lyman Elementary School and entered Mechanics Arts High School in September 1904.
Goldfine dropped out of high school after a year to work in his father's junkyard. He later worked as a messenger for a hatter and as a shoeshine boy. In September 1909 he was indicted with nine others for conspiracy to conceal assets in a bankruptcy case. He cooperated with federal prosecutors, pleaded guilty, and was the only defendant who did not stand trial; four of his coconspirators were convicted, and two served prison terms. With savings of $1, 200, Goldfine formed a partnership in 1910 with a friend, Gordon Wayness, and established the Strathmore Woolen Company in Boston. Goldfine purchased remnants from woolen mills in Maine and sold them to Boston tailors and hatmakers. During World War I, Goldfine made a considerable fortune selling cloth to the Allies for uniforms. He acquired the Georges River Woolen Company in Maine in 1929; the Lebanon and Lebandale mills in New Hampshire in 1931; and, later, the Northfield Mills in Vermont. Goldfine also became active in industrial and commercial real estate and formed two companies, the East Boston Company and the Boston Port Development Company. He bought a mansion in Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Boston, for his wife and children. Goldfine cultivated the friendship of New England political figures and was a generous contributor to candidates of both parties. In 1951, Goldfine furnished chartered planes for each New England governor to attend a conference hosted by him at Montpelier, Vt. Goldfine extended a $400, 000 line of credit to the Boston Post in 1952 on the condition that it endorse Governor Dever's candidacy for reelection. The newspaper met Goldfine's condition, but Dever was defeated. In 1955, Goldfine gave bolts of vicuña to all forty-eight of the governors attending the National Governors' Conference in Chicago. Through his political connections, Goldfine gained many favors. His lifelong disregard for federal and state regulations resulted in the revocation of the charters of two of his companies. He was also reprimanded by the government's Renegotiation Board for not complying with regulations on more than $2 million in Korean War defense contracts. During the 1950's, Goldfine sought the help of his longtime friend Sherman Adams, then White House chief of staff, in easing difficulties with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged mislabeling of textiles and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over failure to file financial reports for his real estate companies. On December 4, 1953, the FTC accused Goldfine of claiming that his products were 90 percent wool and 10 percent vicuña, when in fact nylon fibers had been detected in them. Goldfine then negotiated a consent order with the FTC, and the charges were dropped in 1956. In addition, the SEC had filed suit against Goldfine's East Boston Company on May 24, 1954, charging that it had not filed financial reports in six years. Adams asked the White House counsel, Gerald Morgan, to discuss Goldfine's problems with the SEC. In the summer of 1958, Goldfine gained notoriety as the central figure in the Eisenhower administration's biggest political scandal. On June 10 the House Special Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight linked Goldfine to Adams, disclosing that the industrialist had paid $1, 642. 28 in hotel bills for Adams between 1955 and 1958. The investigator for the committee, Francis X. McLaughlin, alleged that Goldfine had received preferential treatment from the FTC and SEC as a result of his friendship with Adams. The committee later disclosed that Adams had received a vicuña coat and an Oriental rug from Goldfine and that Goldfine had claimed tax deductions for his gifts. Adams resigned as the White House chief of staff on September 22, 1958, his credibility seriously tarnished by his dealings with Goldfine. A combative Goldfine accused his congressional interrogators of "hypocrisy" and refused to answer questions about how he had spent $776, 879. 16 in certified and treasurer's checks between 1941 and 1958. On July 7, 1959, he pleaded no contest to contempt-of-Congress charges and was fined $1, 000 and sentenced to a year in prison; the sentence was suspended. In July 1960, Goldfine began a two-month prison term stemming from a December 1958 contempt-of-court conviction for failing to produce financial records for the Internal Revenue Service. In May 1961 he pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to the evasion of $790, 000 in income taxes and was later sentenced to prison for a year and a day and fined $110, 000. Goldfine was also sentenced to an eighteen-month term for refusing to disclose how he had spent the treasurer's checks drawn on his companies and for nonpayment of $5 million in taxes, penalties, and interest. While serving his second one-year prison term, Goldfine pleaded guilty to violating probation rules in receiving smuggled letters. Three prison officials were suspended for assisting him. In 1962, Goldfine consented to sell all of his assets to settle $10. 3 million in federal tax claims. He died in Boston on September 21, 1967.
In 1917 Goldfine married Charlotte Goldblatt; they had four children.
