Feds Say Franciscan Friar Faked Overseas Clinics To Defraud Donors

WHITE PLAINS, NY — A Franciscan Friar who went by several aliases, including "Dr. Phaakon Sonderburg-Glucksburg" and "Father Paul," has been charged by the DOJ with wire and mail fraud related to donations he sought for a fake medical charity in Beirut, Lebanon, but instead used the money to fund a secret lavish lifestyle with Hamptons getaways and cosmetic surgeries.

Pawel Beilecki, a/k/a "Paul Bielecki," a/k/a "Paul HRH Saxe-Coburg-Gotha," a/k/a "Dr. Phaakon Sonderburg-Glucksburg," a/k/a "Father Paul," a/k/a "Father Kowal," was arrested on charges of wire fraud and mail fraud, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has announced. Beilecki was presented in White Plains federal court on Monday.

"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," Williams said. "Bielecki is now facing federal charges for allegedly illegally profiteering on the trust his victims placed in him."

Beilecki is a friar in the Capuchin Order, a Catholic order of priests and brothers. He is a brother in a Province based in White Plains, which operates friaries in, among other places, New York City.

To become a Capuchin friar, Beilecki took a vow of poverty that requires him to renounce and to not hold any property or bank accounts in his name for his personal benefit. The Province provides friars, including Beilecki, with a monthly stipend of approximately $250 for personal expenses, as well as a credit card, paid for by the Province, for friary-related expenses, but prosecutors say this monk wanted much more than that.

Beilecki engaged in a scheme related to fake medical clinics he claimed to operate in Lebanon, prosecutors allege. As described in the complaint, through appearances and advertisements on radio programs and online podcasts, as well as various other media, including campaigns on various crowdfunding websites, Beilecki has fraudulently solicited and obtained donations from victims by claiming to run medical clinics in Beirut, Lebanon, when in fact he was keeping victims’ donations for his personal use.

From June 2015 through December 2023, Beilecki repeatedly appeared as a guest or through advertisements on the same local New York radio show. During these appearances and advertisements, the disgraced friar repeatedly represented that he was a Catholic priest and physician living in Lebanon and running medical clinics there, with the goal of assisting Christians living in the Middle East, according to court filings. He also made similar appearances on other radio programs and electronic media.

In these radio and media appearances, prosecutors say, Beilecki falsely represented that he is a physician, vascular surgeon, cardiac surgeon, and/or general surgeon, and he has also earned multiple Ph.D. degrees. The DOJ said Beilecki misrepresented running two medical clinics in Lebanon and raising money for medicine, medical equipment, baby incubators, food, and an ambulance for his clinics in Lebanon.

In one case, at the time of a recording for broadcast, Beilecki claimed to be in Lebanon, that he was badly injured and his clinics were badly damaged by a widely reported August 2020 explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, but prosecutors say this was a fiction used to get donations.

Court records paint a much different story.

Beilecki is not a physician or surgeon of any kind, he has not earned multiple Ph.D. degrees, and he does not operate any medical clinics in Lebanon, according to charging documents. Travel records show that Beilecki was in the U.S. continuously from in or around December 2019 through April 2022, and on specific dates when he claimed during media appearances to be in Lebanon working on behalf of his medical clinics, Beilecki was actually in New York.

On the date of the explosion in Beirut in which Beilecki said he was injured, he made several purchases at coffee shops, restaurants, and other businesses in New York, according to the charging documents.

Despite his vow of poverty, prosecutors say Beilecki maintained multiple credit or debit card accounts and multiple bank accounts. Dozens of victims have cumulatively provided Beilecki with at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations as a result of his fraudulent misrepresentations, according to prosectors.

Prosecutors say the fraud funded a lavish lifestyle.

Between December 2017 and February 2024, Beilecki withdrew almost $50,000 in cash from his bank accounts; transferred more than $600,000 to two credit card companies to pay for personal expenses, including spending up to $334.40 per month for a membership at a luxury gym chain, and paying for multiple trips to the Hamptons and meals at high-end restaurants and spent thousands of dollars on an aesthetic plastic surgery procedure at a liposuction clinic.

The Province conducted an internal investigation of Bielecki’s fraudulent scheme, referred the matter to law enforcement, and has since provided assistance in the investigation.

Beilecki, 48, is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, each of which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.

The DOJ said there may be more victims of this alleged conduct. Anyone who has information is being urged to contact Special Agent Sean Smyth, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, or by following the instructions available here.