Lavished Gifts on Guy Buddy
By Jeane Macintosh and Dan Mangan
New York Post [Connecticut]
May 19, 2006
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/63965.htm
May 19, 2006 -- A Catholic priest at a wealthy Connecticut church swiped hundreds of thousands of dollars in parish funds to lavish on his "very good" male friend - buying him steak dinners, furniture and even a romantic Caribbean cruise where they shared a queen-sized bed, sources said.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, whose salary was just $28,000 a year, spent $3,000 a week on food and beverages alone, the sources said.
"You name it, he spent our money on it," said an outraged parishioner at St. John Catholic Church in Darien, where the 55-year-old Fay had been pastor since 1991.
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GOLDEN FLEECE: The Rev. Michael Jude Fay allegedly ripped off St. John Catholic Church in Darien, Conn. Photo by Tom Ryan |
Public records show that Fay bought a $450,000 oceanfront condo in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year with his male friend - Philadelphia wedding planner Cliff Martell Fantini - and that the two well-coifed men share a pied-a-terre studio in a ritzy apartment building on Manhattan's East Side.
The final tally of Fay's spending spree could end up being "in the millions," said private investigator Vito Colucci, whose ongoing inquiry exposed the lavish expenditures by the priest over the past two years.
"In 30 years, I've never seen anything like this. It boggled my mind. This is a man who had no accountability to anyone," said Colucci, who was hired by people within St. John parish.
Colucci is also is known for his PI work for high-profile criminal defendants Michael Skakel and Jayson Williams.
Fay resigned as pastor on Wednesday after being confronted by his boss, Bridgeport Diocese Bishop William Lori, and is now barred from presenting himself in public as a priest.
On the same day, Colucci went to the Darien Police Department with his findings of financial irregularities involving Fay. The Bridgeport Diocese, which said it separately uncovered evidence of "financial wrongdoing," had already contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office in Connecticut, which likewise is probing the scandal.
Fay first fell under suspicion when parishioners discovered that the church - which has never had a problem raising money from its wealthy members - was operating with a deficit of about $300,000.
"We brought in close to $1 million a year, and we were running out of money. How could that be? Something was wrong," said a stunned parishioner familiar with the situation.
Parish insiders told The Post about a staggering array of pricey expenditures by Fay, all made on St. John parish's American Express credit card.
Each month, Fay racked up thousands in limousine bills from companies in New Jersey and Connecticut, despite the fact that he has a car, sources said.
He also bought dinners costing hundreds of dollars apiece at eateries such as Chuck's Steak House in Darien, The Manhattan Grill in Manhattan, Portofino's in The Bronx, Frank & Luigi's in Port Chester, N.Y., and Bookbinder's in Philadelphia.
Thousands of dollars were spent by Fay in restaurants in Philadelphia, where Fantini, 54, lives.
Plane tickets for Fay and Fantini, many of them first-class fares topping $1,000, were bought for travel to Fort Lauderdale from New York and Pennsylvania, and the priest also sprang for Amtrak train tickets for himself, his sister Kathleen, who lives on the Upper East Side, and Fantini, church insiders said.
Colucci declined comment on the expenditures outlined by parish sources.
In February 2005, Fay booked passage for himself and Fantini for a cruise on the ship The Legend out of Miami, according to a registration form.
The two men - who each identified their profession as "director" on the form - also checked a box asking for "one queen bed" in their cabin instead of the "two twin beds."
Fay could not be reached for comment yesterday. Fantini, in a phone interview, called Fay "a very good friend of mine."
Asked about the extent of Fay's spending and Fantini's co-ownership of property, the latter said, "I'm not going to comment at all about any of this. This is ridiculous."
jeane.macintosh@nypost.com
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