Priest from Sabrina Carpenter music video debacle accused of mishandling $1.9M : NPR

The New York Metropolis priest who was disciplined final yr for letting pop star Sabrina Carpenter movie a racy music video inside his church is now being accused of mishandling almost $2 million in parish funds.

Church officers introduced this week that Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello has been stripped of extra of his duties after an investigation uncovered a “sample of great violations of Diocesan insurance policies and protocols” — together with making unauthorized monetary transfers to a former aide in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, which is now beneath a federal corruption probe.

Gigantiello has been relieved of “any pastoral oversight or governance function” on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Williamsburg, Bishop Robert Brennan stated in a press release issued by the Roman Catholic diocese of Brooklyn and shared with NPR.

Brennan stated Gigantiello had “mishandled substantial church funds and interfered with the administration of the Parish after being directed not to take action.” NPR has reached out to Gigantiello’s lawyer for remark.

Brennan stated he additionally relieved Deacon Dean Dobbins — who had served because the parish’s short-term administrator throughout the investigation — citing his use of “racist and different offensive language” throughout non-public conversations held within the church workplace. These conversations had been “apparently recorded at Monsignor Gigantiello’s path” with out the deacon’s consent, he added.

“It was incorrect to secretly document Deacon Dobbins, however using such language by any church worker is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated,” he added.

Brennan stated he has appointed a brand new administrator “with a view to safeguard the general public belief, and to guard church funds.”

Here is a take a look at the allegations in opposition to Gigantiello — and what any of this has to do with one in every of pop’s greatest hitmakers.

What triggered the investigation?

Like a number of lore, it began on Halloween. On Oct. 31, 2023, Carpenter launched the music video for her track “Feather,” which takes place partially in a Brooklyn church.

To the tune of the upbeat track, it exhibits a sequence of incidents during which she both kills or witnesses the deaths of a number of males who behaved badly towards her. Carpenter drives a pink hearse to the church and, as soon as inside, dances — sporting a brief black tutu and veil — across the altar in entrance of a number of pastel-colored coffins.

The video definitely has its followers; It has been seen over 100 million occasions on YouTube. But it surely additionally ruffled many feathers (no pun supposed).

Brennan, the Brooklyn bishop, advised the Catholic Information Company on the time that he was “appalled” at what had been filmed on the church.

“The parish didn’t observe diocesan coverage concerning the filming on Church property, which features a assessment of the scenes and script,” the diocese stated in a press release.

Days later, Gigantiello — who has served because the church’s pastor for almost a decade — printed a letter to parishioners apologizing for his function in “this shameful illustration, which I whole-heatedly resign.”

In it, he stated the parish had been approached by a neighborhood movie crew scouting areas for “what was introduced as ‘a manufacturing that includes Sabrina Carpenter,’ ” and that he agreed to the filming “after a common search of the artists concerned didn’t reveal something questionable.” He stated he was not current throughout the shoot.

“The parish employees and I weren’t conscious that something provocative was occurring within the church nor had been we conscious that fake coffins and different funeral objects can be positioned within the sanctuary,” Gigantiello wrote. “A lot of the video was speculated to be filmed outdoors, close to the church, which it was.”

Carpenter, for her half, stated on the time that her group had gotten approval prematurely, and quipped, “Jesus was a carpenter.” She wore a shirt with that phrase on it throughout her Coachella efficiency earlier this yr.

Because of the incident, Brennan eliminated Gigantiello because the diocese’s vicar for growth — a fundraising place he had held for years — and relieved him from “all administrative and monetary oversight.”

Brennan additionally initiated what he known as “a broader administrative assessment of compliance with Diocesan insurance policies and procedures.”

What did investigators discover?

The assessment was carried out by a administration consulting agency, Alvarez & Marsal, and a regulation agency, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Church officers say it revealed a sample of wrongdoing, together with monetary mismanagement, by Gigantiello.

Most concerningly to officers, between 2019 and 2021 Gigantiello transferred a complete of $1.9 million in parish funds to financial institution accounts and two corporations affiliated with the regulation agency of Frank Carone — a detailed advisor to Mayor Eric Adams who served as his first chief of employees in 2022 (and now runs a lobbying agency and has beforehand stated he’ll chair Adams’ reelection marketing campaign).

“These transfers took the type of three obvious loans made by the Parish to these Carone-affiliated entities,” Brennan stated.

He stated Gigantiello didn’t inform Diocesan officers or search the required approval for the transfers, nor did he correctly doc the transfers or “get hold of needed particulars from Mr. Carone about using these funds.”

NPR has reached out to a spokesperson for Carone.

Brennan stated Gigantiello first transferred $1 million to Carone’s regulation agency in 2019, and that the agency repaid that quantity together with roughly 9% curiosity between June 2020 and June 2021. Gigantiello made two extra transfers price $900,000 in August and November 2021 to corporations affiliated with Carone, apparently “pursuant to notes offering one-year reimbursement phrases at agreed rates of interest.”

However he requested early reimbursement of the principal quantities in February 2022 “with out requiring the cost to the Parish of the substantial curiosity supplied for beneath the notes.”

Gigantiello advised The Metropolis that he had approached Carone to see “if there have been any investments I might make” for the parish, including that “the investments had been made legally and the investments got here again.”

Brennan stated the unauthorized loans weren’t the one challenge uncovered.

“As well as, the Diocese’s assessment has recognized different situations during which Monsignor Gigantiello used and transferred Parish funds in violation of Diocesan insurance policies and protocols,” he stated. “He additionally used a church bank card for substantial private bills. These transactions stay beneath investigation.”

Individually, he stated, the diocese obtained proof earlier this month from Gigantiello’s legal professionals of “racist and different offensive feedback” made by Dobbins, the deacon who had been serving as short-term administrator since Gigantiello’s demotion.

The proof included recordings of conversations within the parish workplace at Gigantiello’s path, with out the deacon’s “information or consent and, in some situations, with out the information or consent of the opposite celebration to the dialog.”

What does this must do with the Adams indictment?

Adams was indicted on federal costs of bribery, fraud and soliciting a political contribution from a overseas nationwide in late September, turning into the primary sitting New York Metropolis mayor to be charged with a federal crime.

Regardless of the resignation of many prime administration officers — and requires Adams to do the identical — the mayor, who has pleaded not responsible, stated he does not plan to step down.

A number of media retailers — together with NBC 4 New York,The Metropolis, the New York Day by day Information and the Nationwide Catholic Reporter — reported that Gigantiello’s church obtained a subpoena from federal investigators earlier this yr requesting details about enterprise dealings between Gigantiello and Carone, describing them as longtime associates.

The 2 accompanied Adams on his go to to Rome earlier this yr, the place he met the Pope, in response to these retailers.

The diocese says it “is absolutely dedicated to cooperating with regulation enforcement in all investigations.” It didn’t reply to NPR’s query in regards to the subpoena.

It isn’t clear to what extent the “Feather” music video debacle could have put Gigantiello’s church on investigators’ radar.

However Carpenter joked about her alleged function in Adams’ indictment days after it occurred, whereas her Quick n’ Candy tour was enjoying New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard.

“Rattling, what now?” the singer stated onstage. “Ought to we speak about how I obtained the mayor indicted, or … ?