The Scientology Money Project

Update on Manuel Vianna, Former Managing Partner of GPB Capital Holdings

2016: GPB Capital Executives celebrate raising one billion dollars. Manuel Vianna second from left.

Shortly after the FBI executed search warrants on GPB Capital Holdings and its Five Star Waste Management component in February 2019, Manuel Vianna a/k/a Manuel Facco Vianna a/k/a Manuel Federico Vianna disappeared from the GPB Capital Holdings website. Like GPB’s owner David Gentile, Manuel Vianna is a Scientologist. No public statement concerning Vianna’s departure was made by GPB Capital Holdings. Nevertheless, Vianna has been named as a defendant in numerous lawsuits along with current and former GPB executives.

On April 20, 2019 Vianna filed his 2019 annual report for an older entity he owns called Navian LLC. This entity was originally named Vianna LLC when it was incorporated on November 15, 2001. Four days later, Vianna filed a name change from Vianna LLC to Navian LLC. The new name was simply a variation of Vianna’s name. The purpose of Navian LLC is presently unknown.

During our search of online records for Navian LLC and Vianna we discovered that Kelly Renee Landon filed for marriage dissolution/divorce from Manuel Facco Vianna on August 22, 2019 (Pinellas County case 19-007653-FD).

The address of Navian LLC is a UPS Store in Belleair Bluffs, Florida:

The long-time registered agent for Navian LLC is Peter Rivelinni, an attorney who works for the Clearwater, Florida law firm of Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns LLC. Scientologist and attorney Wallace Pope and his firm have done extensive work for the Church of Scientology for several decades. A check of the Florida Secretary of State website shows Rivilleni to be a registered agent for dozens of firms in Florida.

Manuel Vianna has worked as an executive at other Scientology firms including the Bahamian stem cell treatment center Okyanos, a company once owned by the Scientology OT and IRS tax debtor Matt Feshbach. Okyanos was funded by $14 million from the $140 million Scientologist Ali Shawkat and his father Mudhar Shawkat brought in from Iraq. Mudhar Shawkat was a member of the Iraqi Parliament in the 00’s and was once considered a candidate to be the Prime Minister of Iraq. That such a powerful figure has ties to the Church of Scientology via his son Ali Shawkat raises intriguing questions. See our article: Scientologist Billionaire Bob Duggan, the Panama Papers, and the Scientology Money Club.

In the linked article, we located Scientologists Feshbach, Vianna, Duggan, Holstein, and Shawkat in the Panama Papers. Here is the section showing Feshbach and Vianna:


ONGOING RESEARCH

Research is under way to look for possible relationships between disparate entities that may link to GPB Capital Holdings through Scientologist relationships; business arrangements; and current and former GPB executives. These types of relationships existed prior to the formation of GPB Capital Holdings in 2013. Gentile, Pismeny, and Brengel LLP, one of the central precursors of GPB Capital, is of particular interest. The time frame of this research is 2007 forward as this is the year Jeffry Schneider and David Gentile met. At the time, Schneider was working for Hunter Biden’s firm Paradigm Global Advisors. See our article: What Do Hunter Biden and Scientologist-Owned GPB Capital Have in Common?

Biden’s ties to the Ukraine; part of the Shawkat Iraqi money being invested in a Scientologist-owned Bahamian stem cell company; and David Gentile’s 2012 partnership with Michael Cherney’s daughters in the Irish online gaming company Seaniemac are elements of what we’re investigating. The Gentle-Chernaya partnership was called RDRD Holdings and places David Gentile in the orbit of Michael Cherney immediately prior to the start of GPB Capital Holdings. We also found Scientology money in Zions Bancorporation, a firm controlled by members of the Latter Day Saints.

Additionally, we found a Dianetics Center Islamabad with an account at Habib Bank. As we reported, in 2017 the Habib Bank was fined $225 million and ordered by US regulators to close its US operations. Reason: Laundering money for Al-Qaeda. The Church of Scientology doesn’t care so long as it gets its royalties from Dianetics Islamabad.

And then of course there is the Dianetics Center in Medellin right next door to the home where Pablo Escobar was shot and killed by elite Search Bloc members and US DEA agents in 1993. It can become quite surreal and Byzantine when one considers the Church of Scientology, money, and Scientology’s associates.


OTHER GPB EXECUTIVES

A mid-2019 Bloomberg chart of GPB execs listed the names shown below. At present, Bollinger, Cohn, Frangioni, Shrestha, are gone. Mike Frost appears to be gone. Frost’s latest venture is Austin Lake Technologies in Texas. Frost’s firm is located at the same address of GPB Capital used in Austin. The status of Evan Myrianthopoulos at GPB Capital is unknown. David Gentile remains in place as CEO.

The last GPB Capital Holdings list of executives — before the “Our Team” link was removed in late December 2019 — showed a few remaining executives:

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