Conman cleric ‘Father Paul’ used $650K in donations for phony charity to fund lavish lifestyle, plastic surgery: feds

There was a whole lot of monk-y business going on.

A conman Catholic cleric raised at least $650,000 for overseas medical clinics he claimed to operate, but in reality used the donations to his bogus charities to fuel an extravagant lifestyle that included heavenly meals, trips to the Hamptons and plastic surgery, federal authorities allege.

Pawel Bielecki, known as “Father Paul,” claimed he ran medical clinics in war-torn Lebanon, but he was 5,600 miles away in Manhattan.

“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,” said Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which collared the clergyman on Aug. 17 on charges of wire and mail fraud.

For the past eight years, the priest preyed on the compassionate, soliciting donations on local radio shows and crowdfunding websites for non-existent Lebanese hospitals and ambulances, authorities said.

The friar liar specifically exploited the horrific Aug. 4, 2020 chemical explosion in Beirut, which killed 218, to fill his coffers. No one has yet been held accountable for the blast, where Bielecki claimed he was injured.

But prosecutors said he wasn’t even there — and “made several purchases at coffee shops, restaurants and other businesses” in Manhattan the day of the disaster. In fact, he did not leave the US between December 2019 and April 2022, they said.

Friar Buck would direct his marks in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia and Florida to send checks to his friary with “Fr. Paul Bielecki’s Mission” in the memo line, the feds said.  He would also sweet-talk victims into sending donations by mail to “St. Francis in Beirut Inc.”— a non-profit Bielecki established at the Manhattan friary where he resided.

Between December 2017 and February 2024, the friar 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 $334 per month for a luxe gym membership; forays to the Hamptons and “numerous meals at high-end restaurants,” the complaint says.

He also committed the cardinal sin of vanity by shelling out at least $15,000 on liposuction surgery, authorities said.

His lies could fill a confessional. At different times he claimed to be a surgeon or a United Nations researcher, and the 48-year-old cleric used multiple aliases, including “Dr. Phaakon Sonderburg-Glucksburg.” In September he legally changed his name to “Paul HRH Saxe-Coburg-Gotha” — with “HRH” standing for “His Royal Highness,” authorities said.

“He’s the George Santos of the cloth,” said a source familiar with the investigation.

Bielecki tugged at the heartstrings of good-willed people to get them to open up their wallets. In 2018, he told the Salaam Club of New York and the Rotary Club of Verrazano: “Doctors are being taken along the Syrian border. I was supposed to have had four physicians with me but they are in jail now,” according to a story in the Brooklyn Reporter.

A Pennsylvania woman and her husband transferred $84,000 to Bielecki’s bank account between June 2020 and October 2023, the feds said. The woman emailed Bielecki on Christmas Eve 2021, wishing him and “the people of Lebanon . . . many blessings of consolation and peace during this Holy Season.”

Two weeks later, Bielecki replied that he was “buying a new ambulance” that would “allow [him] to visit villages far north and provide medical help.”

The woman emailed back expressing her happiness that “the many prayers for an ambulance were answered” — and wired Bielecki another $10,000.

The cagey cleric followed up with her the day after Valentine’s Day, writing, “God is great. The ambulance is OK to go . . . I already did a few villages with medical help. People were crying . . . God bless you both every day . . . every minute — Love Fr. Paul.”

In reality, Bielecki had just gone to a “body contouring examination” at a NYC liposuction clinic, where he scheduled his $15,000 plastic surgery on March 8, the feds said.

A week after procedure, Bielecki, perhaps feeling like a million bucks, made a $1,000 cash withdrawal and went on a shopping spree at a high-end Manhattan men’s clothing store, court docs show. That same day, he exchanged four emails with the Pennsylvania couple, claiming he was in Lebanon “doing our best to keep surgeries running.”

Those who put their faith in Bielecki were stunned when The Post informed them of his arrest.

“Are you serious?” said a shocked Ralph Succar, a Brooklyn community leader who helped raise thousands at a 2018 Bay Ridge fundraiser to aid Christian refugees in the Middle East. “Oh my God, that’s the worst news I’ve heard in years.”

The “devastated” Succar, 66, an orphan who immigrated to the U.S. from Syria when he was 10, said Bielecki was “very believable.

“He was a very peaceful, soft-spoken person who came with a mission that he wanted to do this for the children of the Middle East and I was basically pushing everyone to donate. And some of us, some individuals, donated $1,000 to $2,000 each.”

John Abi-Habib, a member of the Salaam Club of New York and an honorary consul of Lebanon, also got scammed. “No way, oh wow!” he said, shocked.

Told Bielecki used the money for vanity — including a tummy tuck — he added, “That’s scary man, that’s not right. Anyone that tries to use good people and hardworking people. . . and then not use [the donations properly]? It hurts. It hurts a lot.”

The Polish-born Bielecki entered the order of Capuchin Franciscans in Krakow in 1994 — ironically taking a vow of poverty, which required him to renounce material things and to not hold any property or bank accounts. The order provides friars with a monthly $250 stipend, as well as a credit card, for expenses.

He was ordained a priest in 2001, church officials said.

Beginning in 2011 he became a “guest” of the Province of St. Mary, which covers New York and New England and is headquartered in White Plains. After pursuing an advanced degree at NYU, he became a member of the Province in 2019. He was living in a church recotry on Stanton Street on the Lower East Side.

Bielecki’s own order blew the whistle on Friar Buck in August 2023.

Father Robert Abbatiello, provincial minister of the Province of St. Mary, said the order “reported Friar Paul’s suspicious behavior to the U.S. Attorney’s office and is continuing to fully cooperate with them.”

“Until recently, there was no reason to suspect the veracity of his credentials,” Abbatiello said. “The province conducted a vigorous internal investigation which revealed Friar Paul was not who he represented himself to be.

“The friars are offended and scandalized by Father Paul’s betrayal of our trust and those of the other people he deceived,” said Abbatiello.

At the moment, Bialecki remains a member of the religious order. “And as the case goes forward, the province is consulting with their superiors in Rome to determine the appropriate canonical course of action,” a spokesperson said.

Bielecki, who is being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn, could not be reached.

He faces 40 years in prison on the federal charges.

Succar said the feds are the least of the finagling friar’s problems.

“God is the ultimate judge and I’m sure he’ll pay his dues between going to prison in this life and hell in the next life.”