Trump Frees Manhasset Financier In Billion-Dollar Fraud, Calls Case ‘Weaponization Of Justice’

By Michael Mashburn & Joe Lombardi From Daily Voice

President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of a New York private equity executive convicted in a massive fraud scheme involving more than 10,000 investors.

David Gentile, 57, of Manhasset, the former CEO and owner of GPB Capital Holdings, had been serving a seven-year federal sentence after his 2024 conviction on securities and wire fraud charges, as Daily Voice reported.

The White House on Monday, Dec. 1, confirmed the commutation, which does not appear to apply to his co-defendant, Jeffry Schneider of Ascendant Capital.

Gentile and Schneider were convicted in August 2024 following an eight-week trial in the Eastern District of New York. Prosecutors said the pair misled investors in three GPB private equity funds by disguising underperformance and using investor capital to pay “monthly distributions,” creating what the SEC described as a Ponzi-like structure that raised over $1.7 billion.

The US Attorney’s Office said the scheme ran from 2015 to 2018 and defrauded more than 10,000 investors nationwide. Gentile was also found guilty on two counts of wire fraud. Both men were sentenced in May.

The White House defended the decision, arguing Gentile had been unfairly prosecuted.

“Unlike similar companies, GPB paid regular annualized distributions to its investors,” a White House official told CNN. The official claimed prosecutors “were unable to tie any supposedly fraudulent representations to Mr. Gentile” and said the defense raised concerns about false testimony at trial.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that stance Monday, calling the case “another example that has been brought to the president’s attention of the weaponization of justice from the previous administration,” and was why Trump signed the commutation.

Trump has issued a series of high-profile reprieves during his second term, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, and electric vehicle startup founder Trevor Milton.

Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s clemency adviser, praised the move in a Thanksgiving Day post on X, writing she was “deeply grateful to see David Gentile heading home to his young children.”

Johnson called the wave of recent commutations “miracles of mercy” and thanked Trump for “the extraordinary power of second chances.”

Schneider’s sentence has not been commuted, according to the White House.