Karloutsos Family Members Out of Archdiocese’s Payroll, Finally…

Helleniscope - February 11, 2020

by Nick Stamatakis

According to a report by the website “Kalami.us”, which we have verified independently, a major change recently occurred in the decades’ old “structure” of corruption within the Archdiocese: Two members of the Karloutsos Family, presvytera Xanthi and son Mike (Aka “Fredo”) Karloutsos, have been removed from the GOA payroll… “Kalami” refers to the use of an “old” regulation, “not allowing spouses to work at the same office”, but frankly the truth may lie elsewhere: 1) To the financial “dire straits” GOA is experiencing, forcing them to request help from volunteers (e.g. “The Friends of St. Nicholas” committee). 2) The advice of lawyers, in view of the ongoing criminal federal investigation, which is now focusing on Fr. Karloutsos. How would it look to find three members of their family, two of which are in fact enjoying “sinecure”, be on the troubled (bankrupt to be exact) institution’s payroll? Not to mention their first class travel, insane expense accounts, expensive dinners, 5-star hotels when they were not staying in yachts, etc…

You may ask, why didn’t most of us know that these two Karloutsos family members were on the GOA payroll? Why didn’t we know that they were getting paid about $200.000 a year? Why didn’t we know their assigned duties? Judging from Fr. Karloutsos’ statements in the past, the presvytera’s main duties were to bake baklava and other desserts… And Mike Karloutsos’ main duties were to wander around and, occasionally, book the travel expeditions of the Patriarch… (But we will come to Mike Karloutsos on a separate article soon…)

We did not know all these things because GOA never published their payroll, as they are obligated by federal law and as the faithful have been asking FOR YEARS… All non-profit organizations (501c3) have an obligation to make their payroll public. GOA never did, and this is obviously related to the ongoing criminal investigation… (Should I remind some parishes, especially St.Demetrios of Astoria, that they have the same obligation? Have no doubt, if they do not do it on their own the Feds will remind them soon…)

How much these two “sinecures” cost the faithful? Multiply $400.000 (rough number, likely to be much higher) X 20 years (again rough number likely to be higher) and you come up with an impressive $8,000,000!! And that’s a very conservative estimate – which does not include the certainly unlawful Fr. Katloutsos’s “kickbacks”… In other words, should the GOA have not hired just the two Karloutsos “employees”, there would be no need for the Alma Bank mortgage on the 79th Street headquarters, with money to spare!… How many other “sinecures” were there – and still are – within the GOA? How many other spouses work in the same non-profit establishment, as if it is their family diner? How many were lavishly paid and how many abused their credit cards? Almost all of them we have learned two and a half years ago – but we are still waiting for the specific charges from the prosecutors…

Or, to put it in another perspective, should the Karloutsos family and all the others have any “philotimo” (instead of making documentaries about it), they would definitely return the money they did not deserve… But they did not have any “philotimo”… And they would not return the money… Until now, when the Feds have come knocking on their doors and their lawyers are trying to save them… Well, let’s hope that the lawyers and their political connections will fail to save them and that they will finally pay the price they deserve for the decades of exploiting the faithful… Serving the Church of Christ should never be a path to great wealth. Especially for people like Fr. Karloutsos, who could have made money as a salesman or a businessman… Instead, he exploited the Church and he, among others, is currently under criminal investigation…

I have a final question for the Archdiocese: Will they have the audacity and the nerve to ask the parishes this year for their annual contributions without publishing their own payroll? And also, will they ask the parishes to do the same? Your Eminence AB Elpidophoros, what exactly did you mean by using the word “transparency” in so many interviews last Spring, before arriving to America? Will “transparency” remain forever an empty word when it comes to the GOA? Until, hopefully, the Feds install a permanent auditor with an office within the 79th Street Building?

PS. This episode may also be a sign of the friction between AB Elpidophoros and Fr.Karloutsos – but I will leave this question for another day…

February 11, 2020, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com

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