'Victims' of GPB Capital, failed private dealmaker, cited in Jeffrey Epstein files

Government officials specifically mentioned investors in failed private placements managed by GPB Capital Holdings as “victims” in a March 2021 email chain that is part of the Epstein files, the millions of documents and images released by the federal government that detail the activities of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

The email chain is heavily redacted, as many of the documents are in the Epstein files.

For example, the names of the officials in the email chain are redacted, but there are five mentions of the EOUSA – the Executive Office for United States Attorneys – and seven of the FBI, including one email signed by “Victim Specialist, FBI New York Office.”

There are 12 citations of the “GPB Capital case,” referring to the federal, criminal indictment in January 2021 against David Gentile, Jeffry Schneider and Jeffrey Lash, the three senior executives of GPB Capital.

There is no link between Epstein and the three former GPB executives discussed in the emails. Attorneys for Gentile and Schneider did not return calls Thursday to comment.

And it’s not clear why the series of emails about GPB investors was included in the Epstein files.

“Hope you are well! I had this queued up to send you — attached is a list of investors in GPB Capital Holdings LLC that have victim notification rights, etc.,” according to the first email, which is dated March 16, 2021, or a month and a half after the GPB’s executives were charged with fraud. “Let me know if this makes sense or if you have any thoughts about the best way to handle stuff going forward. Thanks!”

And in a separate email from August 2010 – three years before GPB Capital started raising money - and sent to Epstein’s personal email, [email protected], an individual named “David Gentile” is mentioned in a proposed meeting. There is no reference of any business dealings connected to Gentile’s role as an accountant or private placements, so it’s not clear if the person is the same as the convicted former GPB executive.

GPB Capital Holdings used a network of dozens of broker-dealers to raise $1.8 billion from investors from 2013 to 2018. The money raised from the sale of the private securities was to buy businesses like auto dealerships and trash hauling businesses and generate steady returns of 8%.

The federal government three years later charged that Gentile and Schneider allegedly used phony, back-dated documents and paid distributions, or dividends, to investors using their own money, rather than coming clean and admitting that the performance of GPB funds was not as steady as it appeared.

A jury in federal court in Brooklyn in the summer of 2024 found Gentile guilty of five counts of fraud and he later got a sentence of 7 years in prison. Schneider was found guilty on three counts and then got six years. 

Lash, an auto executive, testified against his partners and was sentenced to time served.

President Donald J. Trump commuted Gentile’s sentence over Thanksgiving weekend, and he is out of prison. Schneider is serving his sentence but is appealing the conviction, hoping for a similar path out of prison as his former partner.