NYC LINK TO HAITI TRAGEDY
‘Death’ orphanage’s local biz
The troubled Haitian orphanage where at least 13 children died in a fire this month is run by a “cult” whose members operate Manhattan antique stores.
The nonprofit Church of Bible Understanding, based in Scranton, Pa., ran two orphanages in Haiti, including one that suffered the devastating blaze on Feb. 13.
The homes were not accredited and, after the fire, the government reportedly removed some children from the second facility over the objections of orphanage workers. A lawyer for the orphanage asked to delay a court hearing in Haiti scheduled for Friday, a local report said.
The fire may have been sparked by a candle used because there were problems with the home’s generators.
The burnt home, where children slept in cramped bedrooms on metal bunk beds, was a far cry from COBU founder Stewart Traill’s $2 million compound in Coral Springs, Fla., or the opulence on display at the Olde Good Things antiques stores in Manhattan.
At the Union Square outpost, an enormous chandelier that once hung in the Palace Theatre in Times Square sells for $15,000. The store and its two other city locations specialize in high-end salvaged goods.
A small display asks patrons to donate clothing and toys “to help us in supporting our orphanages in Haiti.” The Olde Good Things Web site says half of all proceeds go toward funding the orphanages.
In 2017, the stores were able to funnel $6.8 million to the Church of Bible Understanding, according to the nonprofit’s tax filing for that year, the latest available, with $1.1 million was spent on Haiti operations.
Its former carpet-cleaning business was parodied on a 1996 “Seinfeld” episode when George Costanza is dismayed that the “cult” did not recruit him.
Traill started the church, originally called Forever Family, in the 1970s.
Former member James LaRue, 62, said he spent 13 years with COBU, leaving in 1993, calling it “a cult.”
“It centered around one single authoritarian leader,” he said, referring to Traill.
Traill died in 2018. Members of the board did not return requests for comment. Olde Good Things referred comment to Manhattan publicist Temi Sacks, who refused to answer questions or provide a copy of the church’s latest tax filing. He issued a “fact sheet” saying the group took care of almost 120 children in Haiti and distributed food to churches and orphanages.
IN the weeks before she died, Lara Prychodko spewed her anger at her married lover.
“I just woke up missing my beautiful amazing son whom I’ve lost because of my love of you,” the tragic redhead wrote in a 6:05 a.m. Memorial Day 2018 e-mail to Wayne Gattinella, a “flashy” executive and former CEO of WebMD.
Prychodko, 48, had lost custody of her young son during messy divorce negotiations with her estranged husband and wanted her millionaire boyfriend to help with her bills, an exclusive Post investigation into the last few weeks of Prychodko’s life found.
“You said you would take care of private school,” her e-mail continued. “But you are not. My child deserves the same privilege yours do.”
Prychodko was also putting pressure on Gattinella, a father of four, to leave his wife of 40 years, a friend told The Post.
Gattinella owned a sprawling six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home in Greenwich, Conn., worth $4.5 million, a vacation property in East Hampton worth more than $2 million, and two condos in Manhattan worth more than $2 million each, according to public records. He also rented a two-bedroom apartment with Prychodko on the 27th floor of a Union Square high-rise, according to a January 2018 rental agreement viewed by The Post.
Seven months after he signed the lease on the $6,500-a-month rental at Zeckendorf Towers, Prychodko would be found dead in the building’s garbage room.
ALTHOUGH cops ruled the July 10, 2018, death an accident, recent bombshell findings from New York City’s former chief medical examiner Michael Baden suggest Prychodko may have been strangled to death before being stuffed down the trash chute next to the flat she shared with Gattinella, 67.
“There’s no way she threw herself down that chute,” said a friend of Prychodko’s who stayed with her a month before she died, adding she is “haunted” by her death.
“I used that chute many times . . . and there’s no way she could have physically placed herself in there. I’m sure she was murdered.”
The friend, who refused to be identified, said that, despite “a toxic” atmosphere at the apartment where the friend said
Prychodko was “constantly” drinking and fighting with Gattinella about his marriage, Prychodko was full of plans for the future.
The troubled socialite, who friends say struggled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, was poised to launch a line of skincare products that she had developed and was determined to finalize her divorce from her builder husband David Schlachet and regain custody of their beloved young son, the friend said.
“She told me she was going to have one last big party and then get sober,” said the friend. “She wanted . . . to get her life back.”
That last party took place in Ibiza and Paris, where Prychodko traveled with Gattinella to celebrate her 48th birthday a month before she died, said Amanda Armstrong, another friend and former roommate.
But before their trip, Gattinella’s wife, Valerie, learned of their relationship when she found a charge for a gym membership on her husband’s credit-card statement, according to Armstrong.
“She hit the roof,” said Armstrong, 36, adding that the Equinox membership was for Prychodko. “Wayne was very flashy and was always buying her expensive things.”
“They had the best and most expensive clothes,” said Armstrong.
The refrigerator at the Zeckendorf flat was stocked with takeout delicacies from Eataly, she added: “They ate at the best restaurants in Manhattan.”
But friends also described tension between the couple in the weeks before Lara’s death.
“Lara said he [Gattinella] was very rude to her after his wife discovered the Equinox membership, and refused to call her,” said Armstrong.
She told The Post that she often stayed with Prychodko at the Zeckendorf Towers flat when Gattinella was away: “Lara was sick of being the mistress.”
Friends say that the relationship went on for nearly a decade.
ON that Memorial Day — May 28, 2018 — when she sent the early morning missive to Gattinella, Lara sent a separate e-mail complaining about how she could not reach him, chastising him for continuing to hide their relationship.
“I can never get to you, so I’m so over this system,” she wrote. “You either stop having me blocked (everyone knows it’s just you who can’t admit) or go back to a hidden phone. Your choice, but if you were honest now I don’t think it would be as dramatic, they all know.”
According to Armstrong, Prychodko met Gattinella at WebMD, an online publisher of medical information, where she began work as a project manager in the marketing and communications department in 2002. Gattinella became the company’s CEO in 2005 and the affair began four years later, a source said.
In 2012, Gattinella suddenly resigned. The company gave no explanation for his abrupt exit.
A spokeswoman for WebMD refused to comment last week.
In an e-mail to The Post, Gattinella, now CEO at tech company DoubleVerify, described Prychodko as “a former colleague and friend” and accused The Post of making “factually false and defamatory statements” but refused to elaborate.
Gattinella, who was interviewed by the NYPD shortly after cops discovered Prychodko’s remains, according to Armstrong, was never named as a suspect in her death. Armstrong told The Post she was also questioned by police that day.
The NYPD determined there is “no criminality” suspected in Prychodko’s death but refused to say if the case is still open or if Gattinella was questioned.
Famed forensic pathologist Baden, however, believes Prychodko “may have died because of homicidal ligature strangulation and was then placed in the garbage chute,” according to a letter he wrote to her family.
Despite Baden’s findings, the ME’s Office told The Post earlier this month it had no plans to reopen the case.
“We stand by our determination,” a spokeswoman said.
Months after Prychodko died, Valerie Gattinella filed for divorce from her husband, according to documents filed in Connecticut Superior Court.
WHILE it’s not clear if Gattinella’s relationship with Prychodko figured into the couple’s divorce, the negotiations were protracted, with the couple not finalizing their split until last month.
They currently selling their sprawling home in Greenwich, and Valerie Gattinella is keeping their house in tony East Hampton as well as the couple’s 2019 Porsche Macan, according to court papers. Gattinella hung on to a 1997 Porsche and the couple’s properties in Manhattan.