Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence

President Trump has set free a private equity executive who had served less than two weeks of a seven-year sentence for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of victims. David Gentile, 59, a onetime resident of Nassau County, N.Y., had reported to prison on Nov. 14, and was released on Wednesday, according to Bureau of Prisons records and a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Mr. Trump has used the unfettered presidential clemency power to forgive an array of white-collar crimes and to make political points, including by casting prosecutions of his supporters as corrupt witch hunts like those that he claims had targeted him. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Gentile had connections to Mr. Trump or to the president’s supporters.

In court filings, prosecutors said that Mr. Gentile and Mr. Schneider over several years used private equity funds controlled by Mr. Gentile’s company, GPB Capital, to defraud 10,000 investors by misrepresenting the performance of the funds and the source of money used to make monthly distribution payments. More than 1,000 people submitted statements attesting to their losses, according to prosecutors, who characterized the victims as “hardworking, everyday people,” including small business owners, farmers, veterans, teachers and nurses.

“I lost my whole life savings,” one wrote, adding, “I am living from check to check.”

In a statement after the sentencing in May, Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, said that Mr. Gentile and Mr. Schneider had “raised approximately $1.6 billion from individual investors based on false promises of generating investment returns from the profits of portfolio companies, all while using investor capital to pay distributions and create a false appearance of success.”

The sentences, Mr. Nocella added, were “a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail.”

But the White House official argued that prosecutors had falsely characterized the business as a Ponzi scheme. The official said that in 2015, GPB disclosed to investors the possibility that investor capital might be used to pay some distributions.

It was not clear whether the commutation would affect any financial penalties. In June, prosecutors asked the judge in the case to order Mr. Gentile to forfeit more than $15.5 million and Mr. Schneider to forfeit more than $12 million.

And in September, prosecutors indicated in a letter to the judge that a court-appointed receiver had access to more than $700 million, “which is likely to be distributed to investors.” Civil claims against Mr. Gentile’s firm will continue, said Adam Gana, a lawyer who represents investors pursuing arbitration against GPB Capital.

“The stories that we’ve heard are just heartbreaking, and it’s just unbelievable that somebody like that would receive a commutation,” Mr. Gana said. “This is not a case that should be political. This guy belongs in prison.”