Brooklyn Diocese demotes Monsignor who sent millions to Adams Advisor

On November 20, 2024By Littum

A top Brooklyn monsignor has been relieved of administrative duties at a Williamsburg parish after a diocesan investigation revealed he transferred nearly $2 million in church money to a law firm and other accounts associated with a former chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams.

Mgr. Jamie Gigantiello will remain head of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Williamsburg, but will have no administrative oversight, the diocese announced.

Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement that after a year-long investigation, Gigantiello has been relieved “of any clerical oversight or management role in the parish because he has mishandled significant church funds and interfered with the administration of the parish after being asked not to to do it.”

Gigantiello — who once held a senior fundraising position in the diocese before he was ousted last year — transferred $1.9 million in parish funds between 2019 and 2021 to bank accounts associated with a law firm and two companies owned by Frank Carone, the mayor’s predecessor. chief of staff, according to the internal review conducted by Alvarez & Marsal and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

Gigantiello transferred $1 million to Abrams Fensterman, a law firm once owned by Carone, in January 2019, but did not inform the diocese or seek approval for the transfer. He did not document it or obtain the necessary paperwork, a diocese spokesman said. According to diocesan rules, any transfer of $30,000 or more requires the approval of the bishop.

The loan was repaid with 9% interest between June 2020 and June 2021, a spokesman for the diocese said.

In August 2021 and November 2021, Gigantiello again made two additional transfers totaling $900,000 to two companies owned by Carone: Cesco, LLC and Lex Ave 660 Partners LLC — again without informing the diocese, a spokesman said.

Gigantiello told THE CITY that the transfer of money were investments that yielded great returns for his parish.

“The investments were made legally and the investments came back,” he said, adding that he approached Carone to see “if there were any investments I could make.”

The diocese is still investigating additional money transfers and a church credit card that Gigantiello used for “substantial personal expenses,” a spokesman said.

Earlier this year, Gigantiello was subpoenaed by the Eastern District of New York as a witness to discuss those loans, he confirmed to THE CITY. That was it first reported by NBC 4 New York.

“I got a subpoena to witness the loan that was made and I met with them and they thanked me for working with them and that was it,” he said.

THE CITY previously wrote about Gigantiello’s financial ties to one of Carone’s companies. The couple also traveled to Rome in May to meet Pope Francis at the same time the mayor visited.

A spokesman for Carone declined to comment.

The diocese also announced that the parish’s interim administrator, Deacon Dean Dobbins, was removed “due to his use of racist and other offensive language during private conversations held in the parish office, which were apparently recorded at Monsignor Gigantiello’s direction without the deacon’s consent.”

Gigantiello claimed to the CITY that Dobbins was placed there by the current bishop to take him out.

“There is no change, I am the priest of the parish and I am responsible for the spiritual welfare of the parishioners,” he said, adding that he has been a prolific fundraiser for both the diocese and every parish he has worked in – including more than 250 million dollars of the last 15 years as development priest for the diocese.

The investigation began after Gigantiello allowed pop singer Sabrina Carpenter to film a music video at the church last November.

He added that he believes “without a question” that he is being targeted by the current bishop, stemming from jealousy over his successes in the diocese.

“A lot of it has to do with jealousy … the popularity of certain pastors and the success of the things they do,” he said.