Accused Ponzi Schemer To Court: Money, Please

Given his surname, we’re guessing that David Gentile isn’t a member of the Tribe. Still, as a longtime Long Island resident—even living in Manhasset, as he does—it seems likely that he’s familiar with the word chutzpah. Which is good, because he certainly seems full of it.

Mr. Gentile said he is “entitled to distributions” under the New York firm’s operating agreements, but that the firm and the monitor have blocked payments since January. He also claims GPB is obligated to pay his costs in defending legal actions against him related to the firm and its business and that GPB hasn’t paid anything toward those expenses.

That may have something to do with the fact that those legal actions are the literal avalanche of charges—both civil and criminal—that have been shoveled in both Gentile’s and GPB’s direction from Boston to Branson to Birmingham over the small allegation that they fleeced investors as part of a $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme, going so far as to allegedly hiring a former SEC lawyer as chief compliance officer to get a handle on how close the authorities were to piecing all of it together.

No matter, sayeth Gentile. Oh, and if GPB’s monitor could direct a few more of those millions its making liquidating its portfolio of car dealerships, that would be great, as well.

In his letter to the judge, Mr. Gentile also claimed GPB has halted principal and interest payments due him and family members, defaulting on $5.5 million on six loans he said they made to the firm from 2016 to 2019 “to continue to run GPB effectively.”

On Sunday, GPB Automotive Portfolio LP, the entity GPB used to hold its biggest assets, agreed to sell its remaining car dealerships to Group 1 Automotive Inc. for about $880 million. It isn’t clear whether the sale will generate any net gains for the firm, as previous sales of dealerships have sometimes resulted in losses.

GPB Capital Founder Accused of Fraud Seeks Millions From Firm [WSJ]

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