The Latest Breaking News from Marek Matczuk

Client of crooked Bridgeport bank got out of $4 million owed by going bankrupt, then got millions more in loans

A month after Edward H. Gobbo got out of bankruptcy, Washington Federal Bank for Savings CEO John F. Gembara starting giving him loans of millions, records show. When the bank went bust, Gobbo or his immediate family owed more than $3.8 million on 27 residential loans, some of them years…

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 27, 2023

Some customers are still paying the price for corruption at failed Bridgeport bank

Customers who trusted the crooked bank to do the right thing are still out up to $312,000 each, as the latest story in the Sun-Times investigative series shows.

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 18, 2023

Crooked Bridgeport bank used these people’s CDs to fuel embezzlement scheme — ‘We were all victims’

Washington Federal Bank for Savings customers had no idea the high interest rates that attracted them were feeding the fraud. The bank’s “smooth operators” lured them in, the daughter of one victim says.

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 13, 2023

Will Bridgeport bank failure trial reveal more secrets about clout bank linked to Patrick Daley Thompson?

Washington Federal Bank for Savings’ failure was at the periphery of Thompson’s trial but will be centerstage when Robert M. Kowalski, who got millions of dollars in loans the feds say didn’t have to be repaid, goes on trial Monday.

Chicago Sun-Times · Feb 10, 2023

The latest in the Washington Federal saga, rising natural gas prices and more in your Chicago news roundup

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 6, 2022

Key figure accused of embezzling from failed Bridgeport bank lost $1 million at casinos, sources say

Authorities are trying to determine whether the money Marek Matczuk lost gambling came from the millions he never repaid Washington Federal Bank for Savings.

Chicago Sun-Times · Oct 6, 2022

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

Five years before Washington Federal Bank for Savings was ordered closed because of massive fraud, CEO John F. Gembara’s wife told police she planned to call the FBI on her husband, newly obtained records show.

Chicago Sun-Times · May 27, 2022

2 more guilty pleas expected in massive embezzlement at Washington Federal Bank in Bridgeport

The change of pleas come as the federal investigation into the $66 million embezzlement scheme continues.

Chicago Sun-Times · May 5, 2022