Investment Advisor Shaun Golden Sentenced for Buying Hamptons Mansion with Stolen Funds

A former investment advisor was sentenced on June 26 to one to three years in prison after being convicted of cheating dozens of New Yorkers out of $7 million and using the money to buy a mansion in Bridgehampton.

Shaun Golden, who was owner of Golden Wealth Management (GWM), pleaded guilty in August 2022 to six felonies for operating a securities and loan scheme that defrauded over 40 individuals.

“Shaun Golden betrayed those who trusted him,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said. “His crimes upended lives and harmed vulnerable New Yorkers who had spent decades working so they could retire in dignity.”

The 48-year-old financier stole the life savings of numerous GWM clients, many of whom were near retirement, starting in 2015, authorities said.

Golden started by transferring his clients’ funds to his real estate company, Golden Wealth Property, without approval. He then told clients the stock market was too unstable and recommended real estate as a safer investment, prosecutors said.

By 2016, Golden had obtained approximately $5 million from his victims, $165,000 of which he diverted to pay a personal tax bill. He eventually went on a multi-million dollar spending spree, purchasing five lots of land in Wilmington, Vermont, and secured a $2.75 million loan to build houses on the land by submitting falsified bank statements, authorities said.

Golden’s scheme was short-lived and came to an end in 2019. He discovered that the land in Vermont owed hundreds of thousands in taxes. Golden used the money from his clients to cover the costs, and when they tried to withdraw funds, he told them the money was lost due to financial complications.

Golden has paid over $2.8 million in restitution and owes his victims an additional $3.5 million.