New revelations in Bridgeport bank failure case: CEO’s wife told police of ‘illegal activity’ 5 years before shutdown

Washington Federal Bank for Savings, 2869 S. Archer Ave., before it was shut down in December 2017 for “unsafe or unsound practices” days after CEO John F. Gembara was found dead at a bank customer’s home in what authorities called a suicide. (Google Street View)

Five years before Washington Federal Bank for Savings CEO John F. Gembara was found dead at a customer’s home amid an investigation that uncovered massive fraud at his family’s century-old Bridgeport bank, Gembara’s wife went to the Palos Hills police and told them he was involved in “illegal activity.”

That’s according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times that show Therese Gembara also told the police she planned to call the FBI on her husband.