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To: Les H who wrote (49731)	12/22/2025 1:10:32 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49759

'Betrayed': Investors grapple with Trump commuting sentence of man who defrauded them Story by Ana Ceballos, LA Times, December 21, 2025 Trump's decision to release Gentile from prison less than two weeks into his seven-year sentence has drawn scrutiny from securities attorneys and a U.S. senator — all of whom say the White House's explanation for the act of clemency is not adding up. It's also drawn the ire of his victims. Gentile and his business partner, Jeffry Schneider, were convicted of securities and wire fraud in August 2024 for carrying out what federal prosecutors described as a $1.6-billion Ponzi scheme to defraud more than 10,000 investors. After an eight-week trial, it took a jury five hours to return a guilty verdict. When Gentile and Schneider were sentenced in May, Joseph Nocella Jr., the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher Raia, a senior official in the Justice Department, called their punishment "well deserved" and a warning to would-be fraudsters. Then, on Nov. 26 — just 12 days after Gentile reported to prison — Trump commuted his sentence with "no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions," according to a grant of clemency signed by Trump. Under those terms, Gentile may not have to pay $15 million that federal prosecutors are seeking in forfeiture. 'Betrayed': Investors grapple with Trump commuting sentence of man who defrauded them In 2024, Gentile, the founder of GPB Capital Holdings, was found guilty of five federal fraud charges in his management of the firm, which launched in 2013 and raised $1.8 billion from private investors by selling private placement through broker-dealers. Unlike similar companies, GPB paid regular annualized distributions to its investors, a White House official told InvestmentNews, on condition of anonymity. In 2015, GPB disclosed to investors the possibility of using investor capital to pay some of these distributions rather than funding them from current operations. "Even though this was disclosed to investors the Biden Department of Justice claimed this was a Ponzi scheme," the official said. "This claim was profoundly undercut by the fact that GPB had explicitly told investors what would happen." Alternative investments such as private placements routinely warn investors their capital may be used to cover distributions, similar to dividends. Senators rebuke White House's leniency towards GPB’s founder, David Gentle. - InvestmentNews