In the first case to go to trial in the failure of a crooked Bridgeport bank, Robert M. Kowalski was found guilty Friday of embezzling $8 million from Washington Federal Bank for Savings and concealing more than $560,000 in assets when he went bankrupt.
bank, Robert M. Kowalski was found guilty Friday of embezzling $8 million from Washington Federal Bank for Savings and concealing more than $560,000 in assets when he went bankrupt.
Kowalski, a divorced father of five children, could face an estimated maximum sentence of 82 years in prison and likely a minimum of 24 years, according to prosecutors. During his closing argument, he said, " I can’t be guilty simply because I associated with this man." Sometime in 2017, the Chicago Sun-Times previusly has reported, a bank employee who had been fired exposed the scheme to federal regulators. At the direction of the regulators, the bank board suspended Gembara on Nov. 28, 2017.
Kowalski’s three-week trial provided some insight to the bank’s operations, including special treatment for people known as "Friends of John," who weren’t required to make payments on their loans while the bank also paid real estate taxes on those properties. And It also showed that Kowalski ended up owning homes and real estate from various bank customers who avoided foreclosure by surrendering their property to the bank.
The bank embezzlement has led to charges against 14 people — five bank customers, five bank employees and three members of the bank board, including Gembara’s sister and William Mahon, a member of the Daley family’s 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization who resigned his position as a top City Hall official following his indictment. Mahon and four others are awaiting trial.The federal investigation found that the bank had loaned $219,000 to Ald.
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