Former ACORN bigwig Dale Rathke racked up a $157,000 American Express bill that he couldn't repay around the time he was caught embezzling from the group founded by his brother Wade, The Post has learned. Rathke was a big spender with multiple credit cards who rang up purchases at luxury shops, traveled by limo and frequented five-star hotels and restaurants, court papers show.
American Express filed a claim against Rathke in 2003 in Louisiana civil district court.
Among the court papers is a partial credit history that indicates Rathke had several different cards from different companies. He used them to shop at places like Gucci and Neiman Marcus, where he spent $1,003 and $1,742 respectively on July 6, 2000.
He visited Gucci at least three other times that year, spending $968, $3,631 and $718, the credit report shows.
In November, he traveled to New York, renting a limo and plunking down $2,000 for a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria and $700 for a gourmet dinner at La Cote Basque.
The brothers were booted from the group last year after the national board discovered Dale had embezzled $948,607 between 1999 and 2000 -- and that the two Rathkes covered up his crime with the help of a few ACORN execs.
Dale, who was in charge of ACORN's financial arm, continued to make $46,000 a year on the community-activity group's payroll until 2008.
ACORN, which has received $53 million in federal funds since 1994, hasn't revealed the details of Dale's fraud except to say it was related to improper use of company credit cards.
"It's still unclear if any taxpayer money was stolen when Dale embezzled, and I hope the matter is investigated," said Matthew Vadum, of the conservative Capital Research Center, which has been tracking ACORN's financial history.
In a statement to The Post, ACORN said an anonymous donor had repaid the money.
"The greatest debt that Dale Rathke owes is to the hundreds of thousands of ACORN members from whom he stole. Their organization has been made financially whole, but the very real harm will remain for time immemorial," the statement said.