DJT is the tiresome tedious tawdry pretentious President* who works night and day to support fraudfeasors, fraudfeasors and their ilk. Enough, From The.New York Times;
Fraudster’s Victims Are Seething After Trump Commuted His Sentence
David Gentile spent just days in prison for his conviction in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
Santul Nerkar and Kenneth P. Vogel
Santul Nerkar covers federal courts in Brooklyn. Kenneth P. Vogel covers money and influence in politics, including on clemency decisions.
The firm sold itself as private equity for Main Street, drawing nearly $2 billion mostly from everyday Americans seeking to increase their portfolios for retirement, even as prosecutors said its executives were using the money to fund lavish lifestyles.
So when President Trump last month freed David Gentile, the convicted fraudster who ran the firm, GPB Capital, just days into a seven-year sentence, it was another bitter pill for the thousands of people fighting to get back their money.
The commutation of Mr. Gentile’s sentence undid years of work by prosecutors in Brooklyn to expose a scheme that defrauded thousands of investors, many of whom were older Americans living on fixed incomes. It raised questions among the victims and others involved in the case about why Mr. Gentile was given a second chance and what it meant for those he cheated.
“I’m a senior citizen,” said Catherine Kominos, 66, and a retired engineer in Virginia who said she invested $50,000 with GPB. “I need that money. It’s not like I’m a jet setter or a wealthy person.”
Mr. Gentile, 59, was convicted in August 2024 of securities and wire fraud charges by a jury that deliberated for just four hours. He reported to prison on Nov. 14 and was released 12 days later after Mr. Trump’s commutation.
The release is among the more puzzling examples of how Mr. Trump has eschewed the Justice Department’s process and guidelines for recommending worthy clemency applicants who have served their time or demonstrated remorse and have a low likelihood of recidivism.
There are no restrictions on the president’s ability to grant pardons, which effectively erase all the effects of convictions, and commutations, which end sentences.
Mr. Trump has used the power to reward allies, many of whom were convicted of white-collar crimes, and to make political points, including by casting prosecutions of his supporters as witch hunts like those that he claims have targeted him.
In Mr. Gentile’s case, it was not immediately clear whether he had connections to Mr. Trump or his associates, nor was it apparent who had pushed for the commutation.
A lawyer for Mr. Gentile declined to comment.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters this month that the conviction of Mr. Gentile was a “weaponization of justice” inflicted by the Biden administration.
But there is no evidence that any part of Mr. Gentile’s case was politically motivated. The Justice Department’s investigation began under Mr. Trump’s presidency in 2019, and Judge Rachel Kovner, who later presided over the case, was appointed by Mr. Trump.
One of Mr. Gentile’s partners in GPB, Jeffry Schneider — who was convicted at the same time and sentenced to six years in federal prison — does not appear to have been granted clemency. Another partner, Jeffrey Lash, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and testified against Mr. Gentile and Mr. Schneider at trial, and was sentenced in September to time served.
The three men founded GPB Capital in 2012. They told investors that they would use their money to buy companies — predominantly car dealerships — that were doing well, and use the income to pay out monthly distributions at a rate of 8 percent of the initial investment, with a good chance of a higher return.
As it turned out, the companies Mr. Gentile and his partners purchased weren’t doing well enough to pay out such high distributions, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said at trial. Starting in 2015, the firm started paying out some of the distributions with money from new investors, a technique used in Ponzi schemes.
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And among the companies purchased by GPB were several owned by members of the Church of Scientology, to which Mr. Gentile belonged, according to three people familiar with GPB and the case.
As the firm grew, Mr. Gentile, who had donated to Scientology, promoted the faith to people around GPB, according to four people with knowledge of the company who requested anonymity to discuss law enforcement matters.
Scientology, which was founded by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986, is based on the notion that those who invest time and money into the faith will gradually see the light. The Church of Scientology has long faced allegations from former members that it nurtures a culture of abuse and targets its perceived enemies. The church has denied the allegations of abuse.
The connections among Mr. Gentile, GPB and Scientology were not mentioned in court. But federal investigators questioned witnesses about the ties before trial, according to three people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Though some prominent members of the church support Mr. Trump, it is not clear if Mr. Gentile is a backer of the president.
“There was absolutely no involvement whatsoever from the church in the commutation,” said David Bloomberg, a spokesman for the Church of Scientology.
Red flags with GPB arose when the monthly distribution payments slowed from monthly to quarterly, said Lou DeLuca, 76, a retired schoolteacher from Brooklyn who invested $100,000 into the fund with his wife. Then, in 2018, the payments stopped altogether.
“Over all that time, our investments are growing,” Mr. DeLuca said. “But not this one.”
By the time the F.B.I. raided the office of a waste management company controlled by GPB in 2019, state and federal regulators had been investigating the firm’s investment practices for several years. When Mr. Gentile was charged, he resigned from GPB’s board.
In seeking a dismissal of his case, Mr. Gentile’s lawyers said that they had informed investors that some of their money could be used to fund the distribution payouts, and accused federal prosecutors of misconduct. Judge Kovner denied those motions in March, though the White House nonetheless echoed the rejected claims in justifying the commutation.
Under the terms of the commutation, Mr. Gentile may not have to pay $15 million that was being sought in forfeiture by federal prosecutors.
After he was criminally charged, GPB’s remaining funds went under the control of a court-appointed receiver. Some $400 million from the liquidated assets have been paid out to investors through a civil claims process that is independent from the criminal case, according to court filings. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the payouts.
More than $700 million is still owed to investors, who have battled for years to recoup their money after Mr. Gentile fought elements of the plan to pay them.
The funds for investors, in a twist, are also being used to pay Mr. Gentile’s legal fees in sprawling litigation at both the federal and state level. So far, $62 million from the liquidated assets have gone to pay Mr. Gentile’s lawyers, according to a recent court filing. In a letter to Judge Kovner before his sentencing, Mr. Gentile’s lawyers described their client as someone who ultimately had investors’ best interests at heart. But prosecutors — and many of GPB’s investors — rejected that notion.
Joseph Peiffer, a lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs suing for their funds, drew a parallel between Mr. Gentile’s case and that of Bernie Madoff, the financier who was convicted of running one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever.
Most of Mr. Madoff’s victims have recouped their investments, Mr. Peiffer noted, and Mr. Madoff died in prison.
At least there was some justice in those cases. That’s not something my people are going to get.”
Jeff Lipman, a retired dentist living in Boca Raton, Fla., said he invested $750,000 in GPB. In an interview, Mr. Lipman said he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a federal settlement, but that he was owed nearly $300,000 more.
Mr. Lipman, 72, said he could not fathom why Mr. Trump, whom he supported, granted clemency to Mr. Gentile. He dismissed any notion that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“I’m a Trump supporter, and this was bad, bad, bad,” Mr. Lipman said. “To have this guy finally go to jail deservedly and for Trump let him out, there can be no excuse for this.”
Georgia Gee contributed research.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
Kenneth P. Vogel is based in Washington and investigates the intersection of money, politics and influence.
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