AG: Sagaponack financial adviser sentenced for bilking clients

A former financial adviser from Sagaponack was sentenced to prison Monday for stealing nearly $7 million from longtime clients, many either retired or close to it, and using the money to buy a Bridgehampton mansion, pay tax debts and fund his investment firm, state Attorney General Letitia James announced.

Shaun Golden, 48, pleaded guilty in August to six felony charges, including grand larceny and falsifying business records in a scheme to defraud dozens of investors as the owner of Golden Wealth Management, Inc., according to a news release from James' office.

Golden collected about $7 million in investment money from the clients between 2015 to 2019 and used it to fund his private real estate investment firm, Golden Wealth Property LLC, James' office said in the news release and an accompanying criminal complaint.

He used more than $165,000 to pay a personal tax bill and secured home equity loans by using the clients' investment funds to inflate his assets. 

He faces between one to three years in prison, according to James' office.

Investigators interviewed 35 investors, including schoolteachers and relatives saving for retirement who said Golden told them the stock market was too volatile and to invest in properties instead for a greater interest return.

“Shaun Golden betrayed those who trusted him and stole millions out of their hard-earned life savings," James said in the news release. "His crimes upended lives and harmed vulnerable New Yorkers who had spent decades working so they could retire in dignity."

In 2016, he purchased a $4.5 million home in Bridgehampton. Records show he also bought four plots of land in Vermont, totaling $2.6 million, according to a criminal complaint.

Golden was ordered to repay $2.8 million in restitution and sell two of the Vermont properties to repay $3.5 million in lost investments to his victims. He was also banned by New York from trading securities until the end of his parole, the release said.

Investigators found Golden also took out a $2.75 million loan in 2018 to build “a second home” on one of the Vermont properties that was part of a members-only ski club, according to the complaint.

After buying the land, Golden learned the ski resort club owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back-property taxes and utility bills and had defaulted on contractors. He never passed along those issues to investors and asked for another $500,000 from investors, prosecutors said.

When investors tried to withdraw money, authorities said Golden lied and told them their money was lost, according to prosecutors.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.