WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Rosenberg is still trying to understand why President Trump released the man who stole a quarter of a million dollars from him.
Rosenberg, a retired wholesale food distributor living in Nevada, has supported Trump since he entered politics, but the president's decision in November to commute the sentence of former private equity executive David Gentile left him angry and confused.
“I just feel betrayed,” Rosenberg, 68, said. “I don't know why he did it unless it was some kind of benefit or some kind of favor. I'm very disappointed. I kind of put him above things like that.”
Trump's decision free the pagan from prison Less than two weeks into his seven-year sentence has attracted the attention of securities lawyers and a U.S. senator – all of whom say the White House's explanation for the pardon act doesn't add up. This also angered his victims.
“I think it's disgusting,” said Carol Ann Tutera, 70, who invested more than $400,000 in Gentile's company, GPB Capital. Gentile, she added, “basically pulled out Bernie Madoff and tricked people out of money so he could go home to his wife and children.”
Gentile and his business partner Jeffrey Schneider were convicted of securities and wire fraud in August 2024 for running what federal prosecutors called a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme to defraud more than 10,000 investors. After an eight-week trial, the jury took five hours to return a guilty verdict.
More than 1,000 people confirmed their losses after investing in GPB, according to federal prosecutors, who described the victims as “hard-working, everyday people.”
When Gentile and Schneider were sentenced in May, Joseph Nocella Jr., the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher Raia, a senior Justice Department official, called their punishments “deserved” and a warning to potential fraudsters.
“Let today's sentence deter all those who try to greedily profit from their clients through deception,” Rai said in a statement.
Then, on Nov. 26—just 12 days after Gentile reported to prison—Trump commuted his sentence “without further fines, restitution, probation or other conditions,” according to the report. about the pardon signed by Trump. Under those terms, Gentile may not have to pay the $15 million that federal prosecutors are seeking in forfeiture.
Caroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters this month that prosecutors had failed to link the “allegedly falsified” testimony to Gentile and that his conviction was a “weaponization of justice” led by the Biden administration — even as the convictions and convictions were lauded by Trump appointees.
The White House declined to say who advised Trump on the decision or whether Trump was considering pardoning Schneider, Gentile's co-defendant. Lawyers for Gentile and Schneider did not respond to requests for comment.
Adam Gana, a securities lawyer whose firm has represented more than 250 GPB investors, called the White House's explanation a “word salad of nonsense” and questioned why Trump granted Gentile a commutation, which reduces the sentence, rather than a pardon, which forgives the crime itself.
“If the government couldn't prove its case, why not pardon David Gentile? And why is his partner still in prison?” – said Ghana. “This left us with more questions than answers.”
“I'm in a lot of pain”
For Rosenberg, Tutera and two other investors interviewed by The Times, the president's decision robbed them of any sense of closure they felt after Gentile and Schneider were convicted.
Rosenberg tried not to dwell on the $250,000 he lost in 2016 after the broker “painted a pretty picture” of stable returns and long-term profits. The investments were intended to provide him with income during his retirement.
“A quarter of a million dollars hurts a lot,” Rosenberg said. “It's changed a lot of what I do. The little trips I wanted to take with the grandkids – well, they're not as good as planned.”
Jeffrey Rosenberg, a longtime Trump supporter, said he felt “betrayed” after the president pardoned convicted fraudster David Gentile.
(Scott Sadie/For The Times)
Tutera, who runs a hormone replacement therapy practice in Arizona, invested more than $400,000 in GPB on the recommendation of a financial advisor. She hoped that the income would help her retire after her husband's death.
“I was sad at the time and just felt like I was taken advantage of and really sold out,” said Tutera, 70. Now she says, “I need to keep working to make up for what I was owed.” She was only able to recover about $40,000.
Tutera said her sister Julie Ullman and their 97-year-old mother also fell victim to the scheme. She said their mother lost more than $100,000 and is now spending the savings she planned to leave to her children and doesn't trust people.
“It's very sad,” Tutera said. “People, unfortunately, have turned into thieves, liars and scammers, and I don’t know what happened to the world, but we have forgotten how to be kind.”
Ullman, 58, who runs a medical practice in Arizona, said the financial loss changed his life.
“I’m going to have to work longer than I thought because this was my retirement fund,” Ullman said.
May, a 71-year-old licensed acupuncturist who asked that her full name not be used out of embarrassment, said a broker introduced her to GPB investment funds at a dinner for divorced women. She ended up investing $500,000 and lost everything. She said it was only through lawsuits that she was able to recover approximately $214,000 of her money.
May planned to retire in New York to be closer to her children. But the loss of income forced her to live six months a year in China, where the cost of living is much lower, she said.
May fears Trump's decision to commute Gentile's sentence will allow the schemes to continue.
“Donald Trump is certainly promoting more white-collar financial criminals,” May said. “How unfair.”
Bob Van De Weir, a securities lawyer who has represented more than 100 GPB investors, said he has primarily handled negligence cases against brokers who promoted GPB investments.
“Based on all the red flags present, they should not have sold this investment in the first place,” Van De Veer said.
Gana, the securities lawyer, added that he will continue to fight for victims in civil court, noting that the pardon only applies to a criminal conviction.
The commutation caught the attention of Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who last week sent a letter to the White House asking several questions: Why, for example, did Gentile receive a pardon but Schneider not? And what testing errors were cited as the reason for the replacement? He said the victims deserve answers.
“They will not forget that when they needed their government to stand with them against the man who stole their future, their president chose instead to side with the criminal,” Gallego wrote.
Rosenberg, a retiree from Nevada, said he still supports the president but can't help but think Trump's decision makes him “like another swamp” that Trump says he wants to drain.
“I think Trump does a lot of good things,” he said, “but this one is bad.”
Still, Rosenberg hopes Trump can do right by the victims — even if he just admits he made a mistake.
“I’d like to think that somewhere along the way he was fed some bad information,” he said. “If that's the case… at least come forward and say, 'I'm sorry about that.' »
