Peter DiSclafani

Introduction

Peter DiSclafani, 68, was the supervisor of the Town of Shandaken in New York’s Catskills — the town’s top elected official — and a board member of the Shandaken Area Revitalization Project Committee (SHARP), a not-for-profit the town paid to administer loan programs funded by federal grants. On November 5, 2026 he was arrested after being indicted on charges that he loaned himself $50,000 of public money through that committee, secretly transferring town funds to make the loan possible. He is charged with third-degree grand larceny as a crime of public corruption and two counts of official misconduct .

Background Information

Shandaken is a small Ulster County town with limited financial resources, where many municipal officials serve as volunteers. The SHARP committee was a not-for-profit corporation paid by the town to administer loans under federal grant programs, and DiSclafani sat on its board by virtue of his office as town supervisor. The arrangement placed him simultaneously in charge of the town’s purse and on the board of the body that distributed grant-funded loans — the dual role at the center of the indictment announced by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel C. Nneji .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged; presumption of innocence. The charges are accusations, and DiSclafani is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

In May 2024, DiSclafani applied for and was awarded a $50,000 loan from the SHARP committee. After the committee approved his loan, prosecutors allege, he unilaterally transferred $50,000 in town funds into the SHARP committee’s account to fund it — without disclosing the transfer to the town board or receiving proper board authorization. Two days later the committee wrote DiSclafani a check for $50,000. An examination of the SHARP committee’s bank account showed that without his $50,000 town-funds transfer, there would have been insufficient money in the account to issue him the check at all .

The alleged self-dealing surfaced a year later from the town’s own side. On May 5, 2025, the Shandaken town board voted to end its contract with the SHARP committee and tasked DiSclafani himself with identifying any outstanding SHARP loans issued with town funds and arranging their repayment to the town — putting the recovery of grant money in the hands of the person prosecutors now say secretly diverted it. DiNapoli said, “DiSclafani allegedly took advantage of his position to loan himself town funds for his personal benefit. Public service is a privilege and a duty and our officials must hold themselves to the highest standards of transparency and accountability” .

District Attorney Nneji framed the case around the town’s vulnerability: “The Town of Shandaken has limited financial resources and many town officials are volunteers giving of their own time and resources for the benefit of the people. The role of being a Public Servant seriously conflicts with self-dealing and helping yourself as you wish just because you have access and secrecy. Public service requires the best of a public officer even when no one is looking” .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The indictment paired the state’s fiscal watchdog with the county prosecutor, and both officials used the announcement to draw the line between volunteer public service and self-enrichment. DiSclafani was arrested on November 5, 2026, the day the indictment was announced — a former supervisor of a small Catskill town taken into custody on public-corruption charges over an amount that, measured against the town’s budget, was no small sum. The case arrived as a joint product of the comptroller’s ongoing local-government audits and the district attorney’s prosecution .

No public statement from DiSclafani or an attorney representing him was reported in the announcement, and the town itself — which had already severed its contract with SHARP in May 2025 — has not been reported to have taken further action against him beyond the loss of the supervisor’s office he no longer holds.

Current Status

DiSclafani is charged with grand larceny in the third degree as a crime of public corruption and two counts of official misconduct, and was arrested November 5, 2026 after the indictment. The comptroller and district attorney’s offices said the charges are accusations and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. No arraignment outcome, plea, or trial date was reported in the announcement .

Impact on Their Career/Life

DiSclafani’s tenure as Shandaken’s supervisor is over, and its final chapter is a public-corruption indictment that names him as the official who allegedly moved town money in secret to lend it to himself. The case also helped end the town’s relationship with the SHARP committee, whose grant-loan program — and the board seat that came with the supervisor’s office — became the mechanism of the alleged theft. In a town that depends on volunteers and tight budgets, the indictment stands as a warning about the conflicts built into small-town government: the offices that give residents access and authority are the same ones that make self-dealing easy to hide .

Sources

• “State Comptroller DiNapoli and Ulster County DA Nneji: Former Town Supervisor Indicted for Alleged Theft of $50,000” — Office of the New York State Comptroller source