President Trump Commutes Sentence of GPB Capital Fraudster
President Donald Trump has commuted the seven-year prison sentence of David Gentile, founder of GPB Capital Holdings LLC, who was convicted in a fraud scheme that prosecutors said jeopardized up to $1 .8 billion of investor funds.
Gentile, 59, reported to federal prison on Nov. 14. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, he was released from custody on Nov. 26, having served less than two weeks of his sentence.
Gentile was convicted on five counts of securities and wire fraud by a New York federal jury in August 2024, along with co-defendant Jeffry Schneider, who was convicted on three counts. The two were sentenced in May 2025.
During the trial, prosecutors described a scheme to defraud more than 10,000 investors, originally alleged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to be approximately 17,000 retail investors. The U.S. Justice Department accused Gentile of misrepresenting the performance of three private equity funds managed by GPB Capital Holdings, and the source of money used to make monthly distribution payments.
Prosecutors characterized the victims as “hardworking, everyday people,” including veterans, teachers, nurses, and small business owners, with one stating, “I lost my whole life savings.” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who prosecuted the case, had previously stated that the prison terms were “well deserved and should serve as a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the prosecution, calling the case another example of a weaponization of justice from the Biden administration. Leavitt also argued that prosecutors had falsely characterized the business as a Ponzi scheme.
“GPB disclosed to investors the possibility of using investor capital to pay some of these distributions rather than funding them from current operations,” Leavitt said.
The grant of clemency falls short of a full pardon, meaning the crimes may remain on Gentile’s record, and it does not affect the continuing civil claims against his firm. Jeffry Schneider, who received a six-year sentence, did not appear to receive clemency.
In May of this year, several audit firms agreed to pay a combined $46 million to settle claims related to their alleged role in the $1.8 billion. And in April, a segment of investors in GPB Capital Holdings had $400 million of initial assets returned to them after six years of legal delays.
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