Jeffrey Lash, former GPB Capital Holdings managing director, has pled guilty to a single count of wire fraud in connection with an alleged $1.8 billion Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
GPB Holdings was the primary owner of Prime Automotive Group until 2021. GPB sold Prime Automotive Group to Group 1 Automotive Inc., after those allegations and the filing of numerous lawsuits against the firm.
Lash confessed to transferring a sum of $1,053,000 to David Gentile, the founder and former CEO of GPB, in 2016. The alleged purpose of this transfer was to deceive prospective investors into believing that the funds were generated from the portfolio's revenue. Lash was charged along with Gentile and another executive who prosecutors said used the funds to cover shortfalls and enrich themselves instead of securing customer returns.
According to a related complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), around 17,000 investors were affected by the scheme, 4,000 of which are seniors. Bloomberg.com stated that If the allegations are proven true, it could become one of the most significant schemes aimed at individual investors since the notorious frauds committed by Bernard Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford.
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