Grimy Times Exclusive
A Manhattan Franciscan friar has been sentenced to five years in prison for perpetrating a multi-year scheme to obtain donations for a fake medical charity purportedly operating in Beirut, Lebanon.
Paul Bielecki, 48, of New York, New York, was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud, which is in addition to three years of supervised release, ordered to pay forfeiture of $563,448, and ordered to pay restitution.
Bielecki, who previously pled guilty to wire fraud on November 11, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti, exploited his position as a friar to defraud hundreds of innocent victims. He faked a charity to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then used these stolen funds to live the high life.
According to the Complaint, Information, public court filings, and statements made in court, Bielecki engaged in a fraudulent scheme related to fake medical clinics he claimed to operate in Lebanon. He fraudulently raised money from victims by falsely claiming that he operated two medical clinics in Lebanon and was raising money for medicine, medical equipment, baby incubators, food, and an ambulance for those clinics.
Bielecki also lied to victims by falsely stating that he was a physician, vascular surgeon, cardiac surgeon, and/or general surgeon, who had earned multiple Ph.D. degrees, and by falsely claiming to have been badly injured—and his fake clinics badly damaged—by a widely reported August 2020 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.
He reached victims by fraudulently soliciting donations at church masses and through other church events, by appearing as a guest or through advertisements on radio programs and online podcasts, and through various other means, including campaigns on crowdfunding websites. Through his scheme, Bielecki fraudulently obtained more than $560,000 in donations from more than 350 victims for his fake medical clinics.
Despite taking a vow of poverty as a friar in the Capuchin Order, Bielecki used the donations he fraudulently received to fund lavish personal spending, including first-class travel, a $334.40 per month membership at a luxury gym chain, multiple trips to the Hamptons, numerous meals at high-end restaurants, and aesthetic plastic surgery costing thousands of dollars.
If you believe you are a victim of fraud perpetrated by Bielecki, please contact Special Agent Sean Smyth, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at (914) 993-1900 or by following the instructions available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/report-crime.
Mandatory facts: Bielecki’s real full name is Paul Bielecki, the exact criminal charges are wire fraud, the city and state are New York, New York, the exact date of the sentencing was not provided but he previously pled guilty on November 11, 2024, the sentence is five years in prison, three years of supervised release, ordered to pay forfeiture of $563,448, and ordered to pay restitution. The dollar amounts where applicable are $563,448 and $560,000.}
Related Federal Cases
- Laquanta Grant, Tax Fraud and Identity Theft, Alabama 2010 · Washington
- Mark Thompson, Wire Fraud and Conspiracy, New York NY, 2023 · New York
- Christopher Ferguson, Securities Fraud, New York 2020 · Texas
- Todd Faustin, Workers’ Compensation Fraud, New York NY, 2023 · New York
- Sark Wire Corporation, PPP Fraud, Albany NY, 2023 · New York
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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