A retired Brooklyn priest who delivered the closing benediction at President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration is now entangled in reports that he accepted payments tied to the commutation of a convicted fraudster. If accurate, the allegations would link a neighborhood clergyman to one of the most controversial clemency decisions of the past year and raise fresh questions about how that pardon was secured.
The reporting, based on an investigation by The New York Times says federal prosecutors in Brooklyn opened a criminal inquiry into how David Gentile’s commutation came about. According to those reports, political appointees at the Justice Department later halted the inquiry.
Gentile, the founder of GPB Capital, was convicted in 2024 of defrauding more than 10,000 investors in a roughly $1.6 billion scheme and was sentenced to seven years in federal court, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release. Less than two weeks after he reported to prison, President Trump commuted his sentence, as reported by the Associated Press.
What investigators say they found
Investigators reportedly obtained jailhouse messages in which Gentile discussed paying $2.5 million or more to people or companies to help secure clemency, The New York Times reports. A parishioner recalled Father Frank Mann saying he had spoken with the president and counseled him, though Mann has denied playing any role in the commutation and told the paper he only offered prayers for Gentile and his family.
Mann's ties to the White House
Father Frank Mann, 73, is a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn who first drew national attention after tending the Trump family gravesite in Queens and later delivering the inauguration benediction, as reported by The Tablet. Long before his White House moments, parishioners and neighbors say Mann was known locally for animal rescue work and neighborhood ministry.
The Diocese of Brooklyn declined to say whether it is conducting an internal review. Victims’ advocates say the commutation further unsettled investors who lost retirement savings in Gentile’s scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has described Gentile’s victims as small business owners, farmers, veterans, teachers and nurses.
Legal implications
Prosecutors reportedly examined whether the commutation involved improper payments or communications that could support federal charges, although such public corruption cases are legally complex and require proof of an explicit quid-pro-quo. The inquiry’s abrupt end, along with the involvement of Justice Department political appointees, has added political sensitivity and left open the question of whether another prosecutor might revive the matter.
For now, Mann denies any wrongdoing and the Justice Department has not released detailed public information about the inquiry. This is a developing story; Hoodline will update this report if prosecutors, the Diocese of Brooklyn or the White House publish new documents or statements.
