John F. Gembara, the late president and CEO of a failed Bridgeport bank who was found dead in a customer’s bedroom five years ago, took center stage Tuesday as federal prosecutors described an elaborate embezzlement scheme they said caused the shutdown of Washington Federal Bank for Savings.
That was the picture they painted as they laid out their case against Gembara’s longtime friend Robert M. Kowalski, a lawyer, real estate developer and Washington Federal borrower who is on trial on charges that accuse him of stealing $8 million from the bank, a tiny but politically well-connected operation that had 30 employees who oversaw 400 loans.
