Trump Grants Clemency To Private Equity Executive Who Defrauded Thousands
David Gentile was convicted in August 2024 for defrauding more than 10,000 victims.
President Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned David Gentil, a private equity executive, after his conviction for defrauding thousands of victims in a $1.6 billion scam.
According to The New York Times, Gentil, 59, received the pardon just days after serving his seven-year prison sentence and was released on Wednesday, according to prison records. His conviction will not be expunged from his record. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gentil and his business partner, Jeffrey Schneider, were convicted in August 2024 of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and securities fraud.
Prosecutors said Gentil and Schneider participated in a multi-year scam that defrauded more than 10,000 investors. They used Gentile’s private investment firm, JPP Capital, to conceal the source of funds and their use in order to make monthly payments. JPP Capital raised more than $1.6 billion from investors. Gentile was sentenced in May to seven years in prison, and Schneider to six. The latter appears to still be incarcerated.
In a statement released at the time, Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that Gentile and Schneider had built “an empire of lies.”
Nocella added: “The defendants founded JPP Capital on a web of lies. They raised nearly $1.6 billion from retail investors by making false promises of returns on the profits of their portfolio companies, while using investors’ capital to pay dividends and create an illusion of success.” The sentences handed down today are fully justified and should serve as a warning to would-be fraudsters: getting rich by exploiting investors leads only to prison.
Christopher G. Raya, Assistant Director of the FBI, shared this view. For years, David Gentile and Jeffrey Schneider spun a web of lies to steal more than $1 billion from investors, using false promises of guaranteed returns and illegal money transfers to create the illusion of success. The two men abused their positions of power within their company to manipulate investor trust and directly control payments to perpetuate the fraud.
Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s Pardons Officer, wrote on social media Thursday that she was “very grateful” that Gentile was back with his young children.
