Jury convicts developers tied to Chicago’s Washington Federal Bank fallout

The conclusion to a drawn-out Chicago financial scandal is nearing the finish line after a federal jury convicted two local real estate developers Friday for their role in a scheme that was at the center of Washington Federal Bank for Savings’ failure.

Park Ridge resident Marek Matczuk, 60, and Chicago resident Miroslaw Krejza, 65, were found guilty of conspiring to commit embezzlement and falsifying bank records, as well as aiding and abetting embezzlement by bank employees after a three-week trial, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The conviction comes after the trial showed Matczuk embezzled $6 million from Bridgeport’s politically connected Washington Federal Bank for Savings, whose former president, John F. Gembara, was found dead in 2017 with a rope wrapped around his neck and a spiral staircase in a Park Ridge home owned by Matczuk. The jury in the case that concluded Friday was told Gembera had died but not where his body had been discovered.

Less than two weeks after Gembera’s body was found, federal regulators closed Washington Federal Bank for Savings.

Matczuk, who claimed to perform odd jobs for the bank and its employees, admitted to receiving the funds between 2007 and 2017, allegedly at the direction of Gembara. The bank, founded by Polish immigrants over a century ago, had a dark underbelly of financial mismanagement and corruption that ultimately led to its closure by federal regulators. While Gembara’s death was officially ruled a suicide, his widow has persisted he may have been killed as officials began closing in on the scam.

The collapse of Washington Federal Bank revealed Gembera’s ties to the powerful Daley family. William Mahon, a former high-ranking City Hall official associated with the Daleys, served on the bank’s board for nearly two decades. Gembara had even extended loans to the Daley family’s ward organization shortly before the bank’s closure. Patrick Daley Thompson, a prominent figure in the Daley family lineage, received $219,000 from Gembara, which later led to Daley Thompson’s resignation from the Chicago City Council and a conviction for tax evasion and lying to bank regulators.

In the wake of the bank’s failure, prosecutors charged 16 people, with four convictions across three trials and the rest pleading guilty, including three bank board members and six employees.

The investigation into the bank’s collapse continues, with authorities striving to recover the nearly $140 million expended by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to cover the bank’s losses.

Matczuk maintained that he had received the funds as payment for various services rendered to Gembara, but the jury ultimately found him guilty. Matczuk and his co-defendant, Krejza, who also received substantial sums — $2.6 million — from the bank, now face potential sentences of up to 35 years in prison. Matczuk was immediately taken into custody amid concerns that he might attempt to flee to Poland.

The trial unveiled the spending habits of the recipients included trips, vacations, and gambling. Gembara’s relationship with Matczuk and Krejza dated back to the 1990s, and the men were entrusted with funds despite their failure to make any repayments on their loans.

Despite the convictions, many questions remain unanswered about Gembara’s sudden demise and the extent of his involvement in the embezzlement scheme. It’s unclear why he continued to loan the men money without requiring repayment or foreclosing on the North Side properties where loan documents said they were supposed to be building homes.
— Sam Lounsberry

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