Southampton Investment Advisor Convicted of Defrauding Clients to Fund Lavish Lifestyle

An ex-investment advisor from Southampton was convicted of bilking clients out of $1 million and using the money to fund his lavish lifestyle with high-end shopping sprees and country club membership dues.

A jury found Jeffrey Slothower guilty of wire fraud, investment adviser fraud and money laundering Thursday following a three-day-long trial at Central Islip federal court.

“This case was about greed and betrayal of clients who trusted the defendant and thought their money was safely invested with him,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Prosecutors said the 46-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.

Slothower faces up to 30 years in federal prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown.