GPB Capital Holdings Headquarters

Appearances can be deceiving: GPB Capital Holdings is headquartered in a disappointingly nondescript building at located at 535 W 24th St #4, New York, NY 10011. On its website, however, GPB Capital shows a glamorous aerial photo of the Manhattan skyline:

It was inevitable that GPB’s fake PR and spin machine would come crashing down, given the tsunami caused by two FBI raids, investigations by the SEC, FINRA, and securities regulators in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. GPB was then hammered by several lawsuits after it was forced to admit it had devalued its holdings from $1.8 billion to $1.1 billion. Two lawsuits against GPB involve former GPB executives David Rosenberg and Patrick Dibre, the latter of which has alleged in his complaint that GPB is a Ponzi scheme.

The class action lawsuit filed by the firm of Goldman, Scarlato & Penny on August 6, 2019 against GPB Capital is a substantial 57 page document. The complaint offers an unsparing series of detailed allegations concerning the firm owned by Scientologist David Gentile. Scroll down to read the PDF copy of the complaint.

The Plaintiffs:
Adam Younker
Dennis and Cheryl Schneider
Elizabeth Plaza and Plaza Professional Center Inc.
PFT Sharing

The GPB executives named as defendants:
David Gentile
Macrina Kgil aka Minchung Kgil — formerly CFO at GPB. Now CFO of Blockchain
Scott Naugle
Jeffrey Schneider

GPB’s exclusive in-house underwriters were also named as defendants:
Ascendant Alternative Strategies, LLC
Ascendant Capital, LLC
Axiom Capital Management, LLC

Macrina Kgil served as CFO of GPB from September 2016 to July 2018, a period of one year and 11 months. After leaving GPB, Kgil was hired as the CFO of cryptocurrency giant Blockchain Luxembourg SA.

      Macrina Kgil

Macrina Kgil has edited her LinkedIn page to state that she worked at a “private equity fund” from September 2016 to April 2018. However, social media postings still online show Kgil to have worked as GPB’s CFO. Indeed, Kgil was named by Crain’s New York in 2018 as a Notable Woman in Finance for her work at GPB Capital Holdings:

By editing her LinkedIn page of any mention of GPB Capital, Kgil follows in the footsteps of former GPB Managing partner Manuel Federico Vianna and several other executives who worked at GPB. It is now, apparently, considered damaging to one’s career to have worked for GPB. Unlike Scientologist Vianna, Macrina Kgil has no known ties to the Church of Scientology. Indeed, GPB CEO David Gentile appears to have hired key people who had strong resumes; a record of demonstrated professional accomplishments; and degrees from prestigious universities in order to burnish the image of GPB Capital Holdings. Despite this practice, the turnover at the top of GPB seems to be fairly high. The top of GPB is a revolving door and we predict more resignations in the short term.

Our research has shown that GPB’s Brian Marshall is a Scientologist and a former Sea Org member. He serves as the VP of GPB’s Prime Automotive Group. David Rosenberg, the CEO and former owner of Prime Automotive filed his own lawsuit against GPB. In his July 2019 complaint, Rosenberg characterized GPB as running a “Ponzi-like scheme.” Rosenberg’s lawsuit presents an interesting situation to keep an eye on: How will Marshall — a Scientologist who reports to non-Scientologist Rosenberg — react to this situation? Does Marshall defer to his fellow Scientologist and GPB’s CEO David Gentile? Indeed, what do the Scientologists who were, or are, at the executive strata of GPB Capital do if the allegations in the lawsuit prove to be true? What do the GPB Scientologists do in the court proceedings or even a possible Grand Jury proceeding? And what do the non-Scientologists like Kgil do? Is the high turnover at the top of GPB a sign of ethical people leaving when they discovered wrongdoing? In David Rosenberg’s case he went to the SEC with his concerns once he discovered that things were not as they should be at GPB. Will the other non-Scientologists follow or have they already spoken to the authorities? Have any Scientologists gone to the authorities to report their concerns as fiduciaries?

An older listing found online shows GPB Capital to be a Scientology WISE Company. “WISE” is an acronym for “World Institute of Scientology Enterprises” and is a private membership group for Scientologist-owned businesses. It is unknown if GPB Capital is still a member of WISE or if Scientology course rooms exist within GPB facilities. Given the FBI raids on GPB Capital and its Five Star Cartage waste management firm in New York City, we can be certain in stating that Scientology leader David Miscavige has been apprised of the situation with Scientologist David Gentile. What financial ties, if any, GPB Capital Holdings has with the Church of Scientology or individual Scientologists are unknown at this time. Nevertheless, the lawsuits filed to date against GPB continue to reveal further information about the current and former executives of GPB and the manner in which the firm is alleged to operate internally.

Macrina Kgil’s name appears as CFO on GPB’s withdrawn January 2018 Reg D offering in which the company sought to raise an additional $1.5 billion. This solicitation never went forward after GPB missed SEC-mandated filing deadlines in April 2018 and had to suspend raising any additional money. Kgil left GPB in July 2018 as the company was heading into serious trouble.

Prior to working for GPB, Macrina Kgil worked at Springleaf Holdings, a firm now known as OneMain Financial. A press release issued by Blockchain when it hired Kgil as its CFO in December 2018 says of her time at Springleaf and GPB:

Prior to joining Blockchain, Macrina successfully took Springleaf Holdings [currently known as OneMain Holdings] public as CFO. She then leveraged her experience as a public company CFO to build out the finance team and establish processes to support 100+ entities as at GPB Capital Holdings, a $1.5B fund. She started her career at PwC [PricewaterhouseCoopers] as an auditor and capital market transaction advisor, where she advised Fortress, the first alternative asset management firm to go public.

Although Kgil is credited with taking Springleaf Holdings public in her capacity as CFO — a statement with which Springleaf CEO Jay Levine would probably disagree — an SEC filing shows her to have signed a severance agreement with Springleaf after which she went to work for GPB. The SEC Filing. Note: Please hover your cursor over the document to invoke the page up/page down controls at the bottom of the page frame:

The Class Action Lawsuit Against GPB: Note: Please hover your cursor over the document to invoke the page up/page down controls at the bottom of the page frame:

Events are accelerating beyond the control of GPB Capital Holdings. We will continue to watch and report on GPB. Please contact us at scienowriter@gmail.com or leave comments below if you wish to participate in the discussion of GPB Capital Holdings.