David Goldman, 63, of Chatsworth, California, has been suspended for 12 months from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, or related securities industry entity by the Securities and Exchange Commission, following a consent judgment entered against him in April 2024 for his role as one of the top revenue-producing internal sales agents at Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC, the California-based real estate Ponzi scheme that raised at least $1.22 billion from more than 8,400 investors. Goldman had the longest tenure of the three internal salespeople the SEC charged: he was employed at Woodbridge from at least June 2012 through January 2018, starting earlier and staying later than co-defendants Brook Church-Koegel and Nicole Walker, and he reached the largest number of investors, coordinating sales to approximately 2,800 people. He received $659,353.91 in commissions during the applicable limitations period, in addition to a salary of over $192,000, and routed commission payments through his wholly-owned company DG Marketing Inc., a California entity that remains active. He has never been registered as a broker-dealer. The 12-month suspension order was issued May 13, 2026, the same day the SEC suspended Church-Koegel and Walker.
Goldman Served as a Team Leader Coordinating Internal and External Agents Across the Country
Goldman and Church-Koegel served as team leaders within Woodbridge’s internal sales organization, a role that went beyond direct selling. As team leaders, they trained and coordinated the efforts of other internal sales agents, regularly joined calls between external agents and investor prospects, and helped external agents pitch Woodbridge securities across multiple states. The three internal salespeople together sold approximately $444 million in unregistered Woodbridge securities. Goldman’s reach was the broadest of the three: he coordinated with and assisted external agents who sold at least $59 million of Woodbridge securities in a single federal district alone, and directly solicited and sold to thousands of investors nationwide.
The products Goldman sold were the same as those pitched by his co-defendants. Woodbridge offered 12 to 18 month promissory notes it called First Position Commercial Mortgages, and private placement fund offerings with five-year terms. Neither was registered with the SEC, and no exemption from registration applied. Goldman and the other salespeople pitched these securities by phone, email, in-person meetings, and using marketing materials that described the investments as “very safe.” Many of the investors targeted were elderly retirees who used IRA funds to invest. Neither Woodbridge nor its sales agents verified whether investors were accredited.
Goldman Initially Defaulted on the SEC’s Administrative Proceeding Before Settling in 2026
The SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Goldman, Church-Koegel, and Walker simultaneously on June 18, 2024 — the same day the consent judgments in the civil cases were entered. Church-Koegel and Walker both settled the administrative proceedings relatively quickly. Goldman’s path was different. He failed to respond to the order instituting proceedings by the October 8, 2024 deadline, placing him in default. The SEC filed a motion for a ruling on the pleadings against him in November 2024, at which point all factual allegations in the OIP were deemed true by default. Goldman ultimately settled before a final default order was entered, submitting an offer of settlement that the Commission accepted and resulting in the 12-month suspension order issued May 13, 2026.
Goldman’s $659,353.91 in commissions was documented in detail by the SEC through a declaration from Thomas P. of the Commission staff covering March 5, 2015 through December 1, 2017, the applicable limitations period. His total compensation from Woodbridge over his full tenure was higher. He routed commission payments through DG Marketing Inc., a California corporation he wholly owns, incorporated June 27, 2014, with its principal address at 10861 Delco Ave, Chatsworth. Unlike the alter ego companies of Church-Koegel and Walker, DG Marketing Inc. remains an active entity under California law.
The Three Woodbridge Suspensions Close Out a Six-Year Enforcement Effort Against the Scheme’s Sales Network
The SEC’s original civil complaint against Goldman, Church-Koegel, and Walker was filed in March 2020, more than two years after the Woodbridge scheme collapsed. The consent judgments followed in April 2024. The administrative suspensions were all issued on May 13, 2026 — nine years after the scheme ended. The Goldman, Church-Koegel, and Walker suspensions are part of a broader enforcement effort against the Woodbridge sales network that also produced earlier permanent bars against Woodbridge founder Robert Shapiro, who received a 25-year federal prison sentence in October 2019, and against four external Woodbridge salespeople who were barred by the SEC in 2018 and 2019.
Woodbridge paid at least $64.5 million in total commissions to its sales network over the life of the scheme. The three internal agents’ $444 million in unregistered sales to thousands of predominantly elderly investors forms the core of the SEC’s enforcement record against the network. All three now face 12-month bars. The Goldman suspension is the last of the three to be finalized, completing the administrative proceeding that began when the SEC charged all three in the same June 2024 order.
Conclusion
David Goldman spent more than five years at Woodbridge, longer than any of his co-defendants, reached the most investors, collected the most in documented commissions, and was the last of the three to settle the SEC’s administrative case. His 12-month bar matches those imposed on Church-Koegel and Walker on the same day, closing out the Commission’s pursuit of Woodbridge’s top internal salespeople. The investors who were reached through Goldman’s team-leader network are likely to recover only a fraction of what they invested. The scheme that employed him collapsed in 2017. The enforcement record is not complete until 2026.
