This is as shameless as a Scientologist David Gentile gets: After being indicted for serious financial felonies in a $1.7 billion Ponzi-like scheme,  Scientologist David Gentile says he has a $6.1 million tax bill. To help pay taxes, he is seeking $5 million in investor money from GPB Capital. He claims he is owed the money as the owner of the company.

And one more thing: Gentile also GPB Capital investor money to pay his legal bills.

Gentile still doesn't seem to get it: GPB Capital is not is private piggy bank. The money belongs to the investors. It is not his money. Joseph Gardemal, the court-appointed monitor of GPB Capital told David Gentile no. Now Gentile is asking the judge to set up an arbitration where he can make his case that he is owed the $5 million despite the numerous civil lawsuits and the criminal charges.

From WSJ PRO via Private Equity News:

GPB Capital Holdings founder David Gentile, who faces criminal and civil fraud charges related to how he ran the private equity firm, is asking for court-supervised mediation to obtain millions of dollars he says GPB owes him as its general partner and owner.

Gentile said in a letter to US District Court Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon in Brooklyn, New York, that his efforts to obtain distributions tied to tax obligations have been stymied by a court-appointed monitor who has had final authority over the firm's actions since February. Gentile, who founded

GPB in 2013, also said he is owed $5.1m just to cover his estimated $6.1m personal tax liability for last year, after the firm paid him $1m against the obligation in January.

Gentile said he is "entitled to distributions" under the New York firm's operating agreements, but that the firm and the monitor have blocked payments since January. He also claims GPB is obligated to pay his costs in defending legal actions against him related to the firm and its business and that GPB hasn't paid anything toward those expenses.

Lawyers for the US Securities and Exchange Commission, GPB and the monitor have said Gentile's request should be denied because he doesn't qualify under mediation rules set by the court. SEC lawyer David Stoelting also cited the alleged actions by Gentile and others that led authorities to file fraud charges against him.

"The conduct for which Gentile has been charged in this action and in the parallel criminal action has caused immense harm to investors and to GPB Capital itself," the SEC senior trial counsel said. "The management of GPB Capital and the monitor are seeking to guide GPB Capital in the aftermath of the fraud perpetuated by Gentile and others."

The SEC brought civil fraud charges against GPB and Gentile, as well as related businesses and individuals, in February, and he stepped down as the firm's chief executive days later. More than a half dozen states have also levelled civil or administrative charges at GPB, with New York Attorney...

Judge Scanlon hasn't ruled on Gentile's mediation request.

Lawyers for GPB and monitor Joseph Gardemal of Alvarez & Marsal said in separate letters to the judge that Gentile doesn't qualify for mediation under the court's order imposing a monitor over GPB's management. GPB's lawyer Glen Kopp of Mayer Brown said the firm hasn't paid any tax distributions to Gentile since January because it is still trying to determine its taxable income for last year.

While Gentile is no longer involved in running GPB, he said in his letter that he is still entitled as the firm's owner to information about its operations and to payments he said he is owed. But he said the firm and Gardemal have refused to provide access to GPB's books and financial records.

Gardemal's lawyer, Robert Buehler of Hogan Lovells US, denied those assertions, saying decisions about access to information are made by GPB management, while the monitor's authority only allows him to approve and reject certain actions by the firm.

From WSJ Pro Private Equity