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.
Kowalski, 60, was a longtime friend, customer and business partner of the late John F. Gembara, Washington Federal’s president, chief executive officer and major shareholder. Authorities say Gembara ran the embezzlement scheme, which, when they finally began unraveling it, prompted regulators to shut down the bank his father and grandfather previously ran.
