Southampton Financial Advisor Gets 6 Years in Prison for $1M Fraud

Jeffrey Slothower had been convicted of wire fraud, investment advisor fraud and money laundering following a three-day-long trial in May 2024 at Central Islip federal court. He had faced up to 30 years in prison when U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown sentenced Slothower and ordered him to pay $1.1 million in restitution and forfeiture.

“Today’s sentence sends a message to all those that would use their positions as financial professionals to line their own pockets, our office will prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said.

Federal prosecutors said the 47-year-old founder of the investment advisory firm Battery Private, Inc. promised a California couple he could earn them 8% returns by investing in bonds backed by homeowner’s association fees in 2017. But when the victims wired him $500,000 each, he instead funneled the money into his personal bank account, authorities said.

Slothower then used the fraudulently misappropriated funds to purchase a $125,000 Mercedes Benz SUV and pay tens of thousands of dollars in personal credit card debt traced to a $6,500 Chanel purse, a $13,000 Rolex watch, and more than $11,000 in Ralph Lauren clothing, among other things, according to investigators. He also used the money to pay his membership dues at Long Island National Golf Club, a private country club in Northville.

In an attempt to cover up the scheme, Slothower made payments to the victims that authorities said were falsely represented as quarterly distributions from their investment, but when the payments stopped the following year, they demanded their money back and contacted authorities when Slothower could not produce the funds.