A former employee at an Alabama church has pleaded guilty to stealing $300,000 from the church to purchase gifts for content creators on TikTok.
Between April and October 2023, Kristen Marie Battocletti stole approximately $300,000 from St Francis of Assisi University Parish church in Tuscaloosa, according to a release from the US attorney’s office in the northern district of Alabama.
Battocletti, a 35-year-old former administrative assistant at the parish, spent more than $220,000 in personal expenses and TikTok Coins. She then used the TikTok Coins to send digital gifts to TikTok content creators.
Battocletti initiated more than 600 unauthorized transactions, AL.com reports.
She then pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom on Tuesday to one count of wire fraud. The FBI investigated her case.
The Alabama DA’s office noted in their release that the maximum penalty for wire fraud is “20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000”.
Battocletti’s sentencing date is set for 26 November, according to AL.com, and she’s received a $5,000 bond pending sentencing.
On TikTok, a user can send a creator who is livestreaming a gift by tapping on the gift button at the bottom of their screen. Once a gift has been offered, it can quickly be turned into cash.
“The gift sent to a creator is automatically exchanged for diamonds, and diamonds are transferred back into cash. Once a creator makes enough diamonds, they can cash them out for real money using PayPal, transferring the actual worth into their account,” explains a 2022 post by the Cornell Social Media Lab, which also added that “manipulation through gifting happens in a myriad of ways”.
