Park Ridge Developer Convicted In Massive Bank Embezzlement Conspiracy

PARK RIDGE, IL — A real estate developer was convicted in connection with a conspiracy to embezzle at least $31 million from a failed bank, nearly six years after the president of that institution was found dead in his Park Ridge mansion, according to reports.

Developers Marek Matczuk, 60, of Park Ridge, and Miroslaw Krejza, 65, of Chicago, were convicted Friday of conspiring to commit embezzlement and falsify bank records, and aiding and abetting embezzlement by bank employees after a three-week federal trial, authorities said.

Washington Federal Bank for Savings, which was located in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood and had ties to the Daley family, was shut down in 2017 after it was found to be insolvent with at least $66 million in nonperforming loans, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. For over a decade, Matczuk and Krejza were part of a conspiracy to embezzle millions in bank funds disguised as real estate loan disbursements, authorities said.

On Dec. 3, 2017 — 12 days before regulators closed the bank — its president, John F. Gembara, was found dead in a bedroom at the home of Matczuk, a friend and customer, with a rope around his neck, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Officials deemed his death a suicide, but others in Gembara’s life had their doubts, according to the newspaper, which reported Matczuk at the time had nearly $1.8 million in outstanding loans from the bank and a million-dollar home in foreclosure.

In total, 16 people were charged in the Washington Federal case, authorities said. In addition to Matczuk and Krejza, two others were convicted at trial, 10 pleaded guilty and two entered deferred prosecution agreements, according to the department.

Much of the embezzled money was transferred to Chicago attorney Robert M. Kowalski and others without required documentation, authorities said, adding Kowalski was convicted earlier this year on fraud, embezzlement and false statement charges, and is set to be sentenced in January. His sister, attorney Jan. R. Kowalski, fraudulently enabled the concealment of $357,000 and in June was sentenced to over three years in prison, according to the department.

Last month former Washington Federal board members pleaded guilty to conspiring to falsify bank records, and will be sentenced in December, authorities said. They include Daley family ally and former Chicago streets and sanitation official William M. Mahon; Gembara’s sister, Janice M. Weston; and George F. Kozdemba, according to the department and the Sun-Times.

In 2022, former Chicago Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted of lying to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. about how much money he got from the bank and falsifying tax returns, authorities said.