A Franciscan friar who took a vow of poverty, but took in more than $560,000 in donations for a phony charity, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Paul Bielecki, a member of the Province of St. Mary of the Capuchin Order in White Plains, was arrested on Aug. 19, detained as a flight risk, and admitted his guilt on Nov. 14 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
Bielecki pretended to be a Catholic priest with a medical degree who ran medical clinics in Lebanon, according to the criminal complaint.
From mid-2015 to this past August, he promoted the clinics on radio programs and online podcasts, on crowdfunding sites, in church bulletins, and at events.
But the medical school diploma in his personnel file at the Capuchin headquarters was a fake, according to the criminal complaint. The clinics in Lebanon do not exist. He was in the U.S. when he said he was in Lebanon. And he kept the donations for his own uses.
A Pennsylvania couple, for example, exchanged more than 150 emails with Bielecki and donated about $84,000 over a three year period. In 2022 they sent money so that he could buy an ambulance and provide medical help in remote Lebanese villages.
“The ambulance is ok to go,” Bielecki replied in an email. “I already did few villages with medical help. People were crying. Almost a year we could not reach out to them. We did not have ambulance, and thanks to you we have it now.”
But Bielecki was not in Lebanon, according to the criminal complaint. He was in New York. And despite renouncing worldly goods as a Franciscan friar, within weeks of receiving the donation he attended a body contouring examination at a New York clinic and paid $15,000 for a liposuction procedure.
Bank records also show $50,000 in cash withdrawals, according to the criminal complaint, payments of $334 a month for a gym membership, trips to the Hamptons, and meals at high-end restaurants.
The government says Bielecki used aliases to conceal the scheme, including Dr. Phaakon Sonderburg-Glucksburg, Dr. Ho Sonoda, Paul Son Altessehaakon Harald Bielecki, Paul Haakon, Pawel Kurysz, and Father Kowal.
In September 2023, the criminal complaint states, Bielecki legally changed his name to Paul HRH Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, with the HRH apparently meaning His Royal Highness.
Bielecki is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 19.
