Posted on 02/04/2021 7:39:57 PM PST by SeekAndFind
NEW YORK—The founder of a New York money manager and two associates were criminally charged on Thursday with running a $1.8 billion Ponzi-like fraud where thousands of victims were falsely promised steady returns on their investments.
David Gentile, the chief executive of GPB Capital Holdings LLC, was accused of cheating more than 17,000 retail investors taken in by promises of consistent 8 percent annual returns even as the firm was hemorrhaging losses.
Authorities said GPB told investors their payments would be funded by revenue from the firm’s holdings, including a group of car dealerships, when in fact a “significant” portion came from money from newer investors.
The defendants also allegedly siphoned millions of dollars for themselves, including for luxuries such as a Ferrari for Gentile and a $29,837 American Express bill covering “David’s 50th Bday.”
Gentile, 54, who founded GPB in 2013, lives in Manhasset, New York.
Also charged were former GPB managing partner Jeffrey Lash, 51, of Naples, Florida; and Jeffry Schneider, 52, of Austin, Texas, who owned GPB’s placement agent Ascendant Capital LLC.
Each was indicted on securities fraud and conspiracy charges, and Gentile and Lash were also charged with wire fraud.
Related civil charges were filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said victims lost more than $700 million, and several other federal and state regulators.
A complaint from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission included accusations that GPB silenced a known whistleblower and forbade former employees from speaking to the agency.
GPB had no immediate comment. Lawyers for Gentile and Schneider did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lash’s lawyer Robert Gottlieb said his client will plead not guilty. “Mr. Lash is a good man with a spotless record,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
Is there no way to sell these guys short?
A guaranteed monthly rate-of-return is a dead-giveaway.
After bernie madoff and the suffering he caused ,PEOPLE STILL DIDN’T DO DUE DILIGENCE.....
First it’s the Jews and now it’s a Gentile. Does the little guy ever get a break? I’m all the time taking it in the shorts in the stock market.
The greed is the first to blind them to the danger. Secondly, they are fearful and morally small. They fear being seen with insufficient easy income. They have forgotten the hard steady work to achieve those savings to begin with and thereby make themselves suckers every time.
The Madoff scam was not just individuals—it included non-profit institutions who should have known better.
Many of these scams (like Madoffs) use established community relationships as the basis of trust—so the victims never see it coming. The word of the “great investment” spreads by word of mouth from friends....
It takes determination to do due diligence to resist these frauds—and many people are not up to the task.
There actually is a very solid investment today -— investing in a portfolio of life settlement policies. Everyone dies.
I just can’t help but get a good laugh at all of his victims. I can tell you right now that every one of them thought they were oh so something(so much better than all of us peasants). They get plucked by an ordinary flim-flam man. They deserve it.
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