This fraudster’s not lovin’ it.
A Pennsylvania man who lived a life of luxury and even bought a miniature golf course — while stealing nearly $25 million from clients over 17 years — was forced to take a job at McDonald’s after admitting his crimes.
Financial advisor Scott Mason “repeatedly and systematically” pilfered what prosecutors called “an eye-popping sum” to fund his “extravagant lifestyle,” according to Pennsylvania Federal Court papers.
The money was spent on “luxurious international vacations,” country club memberships, private and boarding school tuitions for his three kids, along with their weddings, and a posh $1.4 million Philadelphia home, authorities said.
Mason, 66, also bought a $3 million, five-bedroom, five-bath home on New Jersey’s tony Long Beach Island; and partial ownership of Jen’s Links at Lighthouse Cove, just down the road from his beachfront pad in the summer enclave, court papers showed.
Mason, who pleaded guilty Jan. 28 to securities and wire fraud, investment advisor fraud and filing false income tax returns, “ensured that his family wanted for nothing,” prosecutors said, while treating one longtime client’s cash “as a personal slush fund.”
Mason didn’t think twice about making a $1.3 million offer with three other partners on the golf course in 2023, he told local outlet The Sandpaper.
“This is a great community with a little bit of everything, so making this the linchpin of family entertainment in Barnegat Light is critical, and amping it up to create a more family-oriented environment is what we’re after,” the told the paper.
The father of three, who ran Rubicon Wealth Management and served more than 100 clients, “grew ever more brazen as [he] desperately attempted to avoid detection,” authorities said.
In all, 13 victims, including Mason’s own elderly, widowed aunt and a childhood friend, lost money, according to court records and reports.
Mason was forced to sell his 3,664-square-foot home on Long Beach Island’s Harbor Lane — complete with a rooftop deck, saltwater heated pool, fire pit, grill station and outdoor fridge — to help make $18.9 million in restitution. He also owes $2.3 million to the IRS.
He admitted his crimes to authorities in 2024 and has acknowledged he won’t be able to fully repay what he stole, according to legal papers
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“Since confessing to his crimes, Mr. Mason has seen a psychotherapist, has attended sessions with Alcoholics Anonymous, and obtained legitimate employment, earning $12 an hour at McDonald’s,” according to a groveling court filing from his lawyers ahead of his June sentencing to eight years in prison.
Mason spent several months as a line worker at a McDonald’s in Havertown, Pa. A worker said Mason was a good colleague, before hanging up on The Post.
“He took responsibility for his crimes, cooperated with the government and as he expressed at his sentencing, he’s looking forward to making amends in any way that he can while he’s incarcerated and after he’s been released,” said Mason’s lawyer, Michael Rinaldi.
At least one victim says Mason, who reported to federal prison on Aug. 11, had help in his long-running machinations.
Retired financial exec Stanley Tulin and his wife, Riki, a Villanova couple who expected to live out their lives on a carefully earned $30 million nest egg they “implicitly” trusted Mason to manage, claims JP Morgan Chase ignored Mason’s “obvious signs of misconduct.”
They’re suing the banking giant for failing to verify signatures Mason forged and for failing to catch him as he regularly withdrew hefty amounts of cash from their accounts without authority to do so. The case, which is seeking more than $50,000 damages, was transferred to Manhattan Federal Court this week.
JP Morgan Chase did not respond to a request for comment.
Turns out, fraud runs in the Mason family.
His father, Melvyn, was convicted of defrauding financial clients of more than $1 million in a Ponzi scheme in 1975, when Mason was just 16.
Even though the conviction was “extremely traumatic” for Mason, it didn’t stop his “greedy and proud” mistakes, his lawyers said in court papers.
“He had every advantage in life, yet he wanted more,” they said.
