GPB Capital

Iorio Altamirano LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors after the SEC charged GPB Capital, Ascendant Capital, and Ascendant Alternative Strategies with defrauding 17,000 retail investors. On February 4, 2021, the SEC charged three individuals and their affiliated entities with running a Ponzi-like scheme that raised over $1.7 billion from securities issued by GPB Capital, a New York-based asset management firm and registered investment adviser.

If you invested, with or through, GPB Capital, Ascendant Capital, or Ascendant Alternative Strategies, in any of the following funds, you might have a claim:

• GPB Automotive Portfolio, LP (“Automotive Portfolio”)
• GPB Holdings, LP / GPB Holdings Qualified, LP (“Holdings Qualified”) (collectively, “Holdings I”)
• GPB Holdings II, LP (“Holdings II”)
• GPB Waste Management, LP (“Waste Management”)
• GPB Cold Storage, LP (“Cold Storage”)

If you invested with GPB Capital, Ascendant Capital, or Ascendant Alternative Strategies, contact New York securities arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.

GPB Capital served as the general partner and/or manager for the limited partnership funds. Ascendant Capital served as GPB Capital’s placement agent. Ascendant Alternative Strategies marketed GPB Capital’s investments. They are alleged to have lied to investors about the source of money used to make 8% annualized distribution payments to investors.

Since 2013, GPB Capital has raised over $1.7 billion for at least five limited partnership funds from nearly 17,000 retail investors nationwide. Approximately 4,000 of them are seniors. In 2018 GPB Capital suspended all redemptions and distributions. According to a recent regulatory filing, GPB Capital’s assets are far below its obligations to the investors.

David Gentile is the owner and CEO of GPB Capital. Jeffry Schneider is the owner of Ascendant Capital and a minority owner of Ascendant Alternative Strategies. Jeffrey Lash is a former managing partner of GPB Capital. They were all arrested on February 4, 2021.

Schneider and Ascendant Alternative Strategies are FINRA members.

To existing and prospective investors, GPB Capital touted that it consistently made an 8% annualized distribution payment to investors, as well as periodic “special distributions” ranging from 0.5 to 3%. The SEC’s complaint alleges that they lied to investors about the source of money used to make an 8% annualized distribution payment to investors.

According to the complaint, they told investors that the distribution payments were paid exclusively with monies generated by GPB Capital’s portfolio companies.

The SEC complaint alleges that GPB Capital used investor money to pay portions of the annualized 8% distribution payments. GPB Capital and Gentile, with assistance from Jeffrey Lash, a former managing partner at GPB Capital, also allegedly manipulated the financial statements of certain GPB Capital funds to perpetuate the deception by giving the false appearance that the funds’ income was closer to generating sufficient income to cover the distribution payments than it actually was.

The SEC’s complaint further alleges that GPB Capital and Ascendant Capital made misrepresentations to investors about millions of dollars in fees and other compensation received by Gentile and Schneider. The fraudulent scheme continued for more than four years in part because GPB Capital kept investors in the dark about the limited partnership funds’ true financial condition, failing to deliver audited financial statements and register two of its funds with the SEC.

GPB Capital allegedly violated the whistleblower provisions of the securities laws by including language in termination and separation agreements that impeded individuals from coming forward to the SEC and by retaliating against a known whistleblower.

Mr. Schneider is a resident of West Lake Hills, Texas. He is a minority owner of Ascendant Alternative Strategies and the sole owner and CEO of Ascendant Capital.

Mr. Schneider is registered with FINRA. He was the subject of regulatory inquiries by the State of Illinois and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) in 2006 and 2004, respectively, both of which he settled. Eight of Mr. Schneider’s customers have also filed FINRA arbitrations or complaints against him, relating to suitability, excessive trading, and unauthorized trading. Mr. Schneider settled six of the eight claims through payments to the customers; one claim was denied, and one claim was withdrawn.

One pending claim seeks $6,000,000 in damages related to the purchase of GPB funds.

How to Recover Losses or Obtain a Free Consultation

If you or a loved one invested with GPB Capital, Ascendant Capital, or Ascendant Alternative Strategies, contact New York securities arbitration lawyer Jorge Altamirano of Iorio Altamirano LLP at jorge@ia-law.com or toll-free at (855) 430-4010 for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.

Iorio Altamirano LLP is a securities arbitration law firm based in New York, NY. We pursue FINRA arbitration claims nationwide on behalf of investors to recover financial losses arising out of wrongful conduct by financial advisors and brokerage firms.