Preschool Director Allegedly Stole Tuition for WWE Trips

Parents thought they were paying $48,000 a year for German-immersion preschool; prosecutors say they were also funding pro wrestling meet-and-greets for the director and her three kids. Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested Murielle Misczak, the former director of KinderHaus Brooklyn, accusing her of siphoning roughly $2.8 million in tuition payments from the pricey daycare and using some of it on deluxe World Wrestling Entertainment packages, luxury travel, and food delivery, per the New York Times. Misczak, a 43-year-old Swiss citizen, pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court to charges including wire fraud and money laundering.

Prosecutors say she routed more than 450 tuition deposits into PayPal accounts she controlled over about four years while earning a reported $40,000 salary and declining raises. KinderHaus's founder, Simona D'Souza, said she discovered the alleged scheme in October, fired Misczak, and later sued her in state court. The lawsuit claims Misczak's spending was largely documented on her public social media accounts, per the New York Post. When the school asked how she could afford such a lifestyle with her salary while paying $36,000 a year to rent two apartments from the school, she allegedly claimed to belong to a wealthy Swiss family.

She allegedly went to great lengths to hide the fraud, manipulating accounting systems and deleting tuition invoices and emails showing the PayPal transfers, per the Times and Post. The school, which serves about 100 children and charges up to $48,000 a year, hopes to recoup the funds, though prosecutors told the court the money is gone and Misczak has no savings and, having been fired, no legal immigration status. She faces up to 20 years if convicted. A lawyer for the school called it a carefully constructed fraud; D'Souza described the case as a profound personal and professional breach of trust.