California Man Sentenced in $39M Bank Fraud Scheme That Defrauded Seven Financial Institutions

LAS VEGAS - A California man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release for perpetrating an elaborate bank fraud scheme that took in approximately $39 million from multiple financial institutions over the course of nearly 10 years. He was also ordered to pay over $19.4 million in restitution and $21.8 million in forfeiture.

According to court documents, Gary Topolewski, 64, of Northridge, engaged in the nearly decade-long scheme to defraud multiple financial institutions through the submission of false and fraudulent commercial loan applications on behalf of his purported companies, Topolewski America Inc., Morrison Knudsen Services Inc., and Metal Jeans Inc. As a result, these entities received more than $39 million in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds, with Topolewski unsuccessfully seeking millions more.

Topolewski falsely represented in the loan applications that the loans were for the purchase of large, industrial earth-moving construction equipment, and for business working capital purposes. In reality, Topolewski and his companies did not use the proceeds as represented and instead diverted, laundered, and misappropriated the proceeds for other purposes, including for the purchase of properties and to make Ponzi-like payments to financial lenders to perpetuate the scheme by using loan proceeds from newer loans to pay down the balance of other loans. Topolewski used several aliases, including the stolen identity of a victim, and company names that were similar to those of established companies in the construction and equipment industries.

In December 2025, Topolewski pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Delzotto of the FBI Las Vegas Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Sara Hallmark of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Lopez for the District of Nevada prosecuted the case.

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