A man who called himself “Father” Andrew in an effort to present as a Christian Orthodox monk has been accused of fraudulently obtaining $3.6 million in pandemic relief money, much of which he spent on items like antique furniture, Swiss watches, and a Goyard designer handbag. Brian Andrew Bushell, 47, was arrested on Thursday alongside his attorney, Tracey M.A. Stockton, 64, at the home they shared in Marblehead, Massachusetts, which the pair referred to as “Annunciation House.” In April 2020, with Stockton’s help, Bushell allegedly submitted applications for federal COVID relief funds for several Marblehead-based organizations, including a supposed charity called St. Paul’s Foundation; a craft saltern known as Marblehead Salt Co.; and a “monastic house” unfortunately titled the Shrine of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Patron of Sailors, Brewers & Repentant Thieves. Stockton and Bushell, who had taken a “vow of poverty,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, then allegedly spent $40,000 on a wristwatch, $2,400 on Hermès luxury goods, and more than $1 million on renovations to a planned “monastic complex,” complete with a brewery and beer garden.
