[11][3] On September 9, 2015, 10 days after he crashed his car in a hit-and-run in which his passenger died, he put his Bridgehampton property, as well as his Manhattan Sutton Place townhouse, into the names of limited liability corporations.
[10][6][13][14] In 2010 he developed 580 Carroll Street in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, a 17-unit five-story building designed by architect Enrique Norten.
[16][10] In June 2014, Ludwick purchased $62 million Hudson Yards-area parcels, on the corner of West 38th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan.
[20] In October 2014, it was reported that Ludwick was buying a Hudson Yards strip club for $40 million, with the purchase expected to close in December 2015.
He was arrested multiple times, including for assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and breaking into and painting penises in his girlfriend's apartment.
[25][26][27][2][23][28] Ludwick also allegedly used his ex's computer to send lewd emails to executives at her company, posing as her, saying she had engaged in relationships with married men, including her then-current supervisor.
[23][6][33] He had drunkenly crashed his silver 2013 Porsche Carrera at high speed into a telephone pole in the village of Sag Harbor in Long Island, New York, at around 2:30 a.m.[34][1][6][10][35][24] He allegedly then dragged the body of his critically injured passenger and friend, 53-year-old Paul Hansen, from his damaged car, dumped the body and left it lying in the street—on the block and 100 feet from where Hansen lived with his wife and sons ages 11 and 13, and where Ludwick's son was for a sleepover—and threw Hansen's wallet into the woods, and then drove away.
During the interview and the investigation he stood with a wide stance, and continuously swayed from front to back, and he stumbled when he tried to walk.
[1][6][24][39] Ludwick was charged in Southampton Town Justice Court with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident (a felony).
[41][10] His lawyer argued that Ludwick was unlikely to seek to flee, as he was "a major real estate developer in the United States and across the world, quite frankly".
[10] However, Southampton town justice Deborah Kooperstein insisted on a $1 million bond because, she said, his previous "behaviors indicate a risk" that he would flee, and also suspended his driving privileges, calling him "a dangerous driver".
[6] While he was free on $1 million bond, Ludwick allegedly made plans to skip bail and flee the country.
[36][49] An FBI agent moonlighting as a sailing instructor became suspicious of Ludwick, who had asked him questions about the ability of the boat to make it to South America and about extradition laws, and contacted authorities.
[39] In February 2016, in light of that, a judge deemed him a flight risk, ordered that he be held without bail, and sent him to prison at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.
; Hamptons Menace; Before leaving a friend for dead in his Porsche, real estate mogul Sean Ludwick was arrested for drunk driving and allegedly beat his girlfriend.
"[10] After mentioning Donald Trump, the paper said: "If what the prosecutors allege is true, the circumstances of [Paul Hansen's] death mark Sean Ludwick as so callous and craven as to be New York's worst real estate developer.
"[10] In August 2017, Ludwick pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in a death, as well as aggravated driving while intoxicated, in the Central Islip courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho; in January 2016 he had initially pled not guilty.
"[24] In October 2015, Hansen's widow filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of herself and her children against Ludwick in New York State Supreme Court.
The family of the victim is left empty, broken, and still trying to heal while dealing with the reality of the felon living around the corner.