A Franciscan friar has been accused of being a fraudster after allegedly spending $650,000 on plastic surgery and trips to the Hamptons while claiming to be helping injured people in Lebanon.
Pawel ‘Paul’ Bielecki, 48, of New York City, was charged with wire and mail fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York for allegedly ‘defrauding victims by falsely claiming to be a physician running medical clinics in Beirut, Lebanon,’ the prosecutor said. complaint read.
He allegedly transferred more than $600,000 to two credit card companies for personal expenses, including a $334-a-month gym membership, multiple trips to the Hamptons and dinners at high-end restaurants.
She also transferred $50,000 to her personal bank accounts and spent $15,000 on plastic surgery.
He obtained the money through donations between 2015 and 2024, as he claimed to be a surgeon with multiple PhDs who ran two medical clinics in Lebanon.
He took advantage of the 2020 chemical explosion in Beirut that killed 218 people and in which Bielecki claimed he was injured and his clinic severely damaged.
Pawel ‘Paul’ Bielecki, 48, of New York City, was charged with wire and mail fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York for allegedly ‘defrauding victims by falsely claiming to be a physician running medical clinics in Beirut, Lebanon.’
The Southern District of New York found that Bielecki had left the United States between December 2019 and April 2022 and that during the time he told customers he was injured, he was actually making purchases at cafes and restaurants in New York City, where he lives.
“As alleged, Pawel Bielecki exploited his position as a friar to gain the trust of victims across the country and steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from them,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. statement‘Bielecki now faces federal charges for allegedly illegally taking advantage of the trust his victims placed in him.’
Bielecki took a vow of poverty when he joined the Capuchin Order, a religious organization based in White Plains, agreeing not to hold any property or bank accounts in his name for personal benefit.
The convent provided its pious workers with $250 a month for personal expenses, and also gave them a credit card for work-related expenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Between 2016 and 2019, sponsors in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia and Florida were asked to send donations in the form of checks with the following note: “The Mission of Father Paul Bielecki.”
The 2020 chemical explosion in Beirut (pictured) killed 218 people and where Bielecki said he was injured and his clinic severely damaged.
Beginning in April 2021, he asked them to send checks to ‘St. Francis in Beirut Inc.’, a nonprofit established in March 2021 that was based at the Capuchin Order convent in New York City.
He also used crowdfunding sources to raise $78,000 and Zelle payments to receive donations, according to the complaint.
In December 2021, Bielecki emailed a Pennsylvania donor to wish him a happy holiday. A few weeks later, he told him he was going to “buy a new ambulance” that would “allow him to visit towns in the far north and provide medical help.”
The victim responded on January 15, 2022, saying that her “many prayers for an ambulance were answered” and said a $10,000 deposit would be sent to her “next week.”
A few days after receiving the large sum, she Googled “laser-assisted liposuction” and then went to an appointment for a “body contouring exam” on Feb. 15, 2022. While there, she scheduled a $15,000 plastic surgery procedure, according to the complaint.
She allegedly transferred more than $600,000 to two credit card companies for personal expenses, including a $334-a-month gym membership and several trips to the Hamptons. She also transferred $50,000 to her personal bank accounts and spent $15,000 on plastic surgery (pictured: Beirut in 2020)
On the same day of his inquiry, he emailed the Pennsylvania donor saying he had already helped “some villages with medical aid.”
“People were crying,” she wrote. “For almost a year we couldn’t reach them. We didn’t have an ambulance and thanks to you we now have one :)”
On or around March 15, 2022, he emailed the donor again saying he was doing “everything possible to keep the surgeries going” and to continue “visiting villages.”
Meanwhile, financial records show he had actually paid for a taxi in New York, spent more than $430 at a high-end men’s clothing store in the city and used his debit cards for numerous other purchases, according to the complaint.
By the end of the scheme, the donor and her husband had given Bielecki $84,000 and exchanged more than 150 emails.
In his 2020 to 2022 tax returns, which were shared with the convent, he listed work for the United Nations, which he said involved conducting advanced scientific research for them.
He obtained the money through donations between 2015 and 2024, as he claimed to be a surgeon with multiple PhDs who ran two medical clinics in Lebanon.
“I believe that BIELECKI used his purported UN-DARPA work to disguise the proceeds he received from his fraudulent scheme,” Special Agent Sean Smyth wrote in the complaint.
The convent attempted to verify his claim and on August 11, 2022, they received an email stating that “Dr. Bielecki” worked for them.
When they requested an in-person visit, the purported “Dr. PHaakon Sonderburg-Glucksburg” said he was based in South Asia and was unable to make it. When they asked to meet Dr. Sonoda, with whom Bielecki had signed the “contract,” Glucksburg said he had retired.
The email addresses of both were linked to a recovery account belonging to Bielecki. The accounts were also created on the same day that the convent requested information about their scientific work.
The Polish-born friar also used many pseudonyms, including “Paul (His Royal Highness) Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.”
Additionally, Bielecki’s convent file contained a fake medical school diploma that was dated May 2020 and a handwritten entry stating that he received his degree in Paris, France, in 2007, when he would have been a missionary in Lebanon at the time.
The friar’s own order removed him from office in August 2023 after Father Robert Abbatiello reported him to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for suspicious behavior. Bielecki faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
The friar’s own order removed him in August 2023 after Father Robert Abbatiello reported him for suspicious behavior to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to the The New York Post.
“Until recently there was no reason to suspect the veracity of his credentials,” Abbatiello said. “The province conducted a rigorous internal investigation which revealed that Brother Paul was not who he claimed to be.
‘The friars feel offended and scandalized by Father Pablo’s betrayal of our trust and that of the other people he deceived.’
Bielecki faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
He joined the Capuchin Franciscans in Krakow in 1994 and some of his New York constituents were shocked to learn he was a fraud.
“Are you serious?” Ralph Succar, 66, who helped raise thousands of dollars for Middle East relief, told The Post.
“My God, this is the worst news I’ve heard in years.”
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