St. Thomas Social managing partner Brett “Mac” McClafferty was arrested Saturday by the Virgin Islands Police Department’s Economic Crime Unit in connection with what authorities describe as an $888,500 fraud investigation.
According to a Sunday news release, investigators allege that between January and June 2024, McClafferty deposited counterfeit and fictitious checks — including instruments drawn on entities in the British Virgin Islands — and issued bank drafts that were later returned for insufficient funds or subject to stop-payment requests. Police say funds were withdrawn and wired to third parties before the instruments were returned unpaid.
An arrest warrant was issued Dec. 30, 2025, with bail set at $150,000. McClafferty was taken into custody Feb. 21 and, unable to post bail, was remanded to the Bureau of Corrections pending his advice of rights hearing, which is scheduled for Monday morning.
The charges include grand larceny, passing or possession of forged bills, obtaining money by false pretenses, making and passing fictitious bills and notes, and drawing and delivering worthless checks. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, which initiated the complaint in June 2024, reported a confirmed loss exceeding $80,000, though police allege 12 fraudulent transactions totaling approximately $888,500 moved through McClafferty’s business and personal accounts.
In a statement provided to the Source and posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page, St. Thomas Social partner Sunil Sharma said the arrest centers on a 2024 banking deposit made by the restaurant’s former general manager for a private event rental. Sharma stated that McClafferty did not make the deposit and had no involvement with the client, and that the event ultimately was never held after the check repeatedly bounced and the client later died. Sharma called it “absurd” that the business or its owners would be held responsible for deposits made in the course of ordinary business, noting the restaurant processes more than $2 million annually in transactions. He said McClafferty “committed no crime” and expressed confidence in his release.
St. Croix attorney Kye Walker, whose name has circulated as potential counsel, told the Source she is not representing McClafferty in this matter and will not be. She added that she would never recommend a client issue a press statement upon arrest, saying, “I represent clients in the courtroom, and not in the media.”
The case now moves into the court system, where the government will be required to prove its allegations and McClafferty will have the opportunity to respond through counsel.
The restaurant, its parent company Social Hospitality Group and McClafferty — principal of Mac Private Equity and MPE Clearings and Holdings — are, or have been, the subject of numerous other lawsuits, while Mac Private Equity filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Delaware Bankruptcy Court in March.
McClafferty has also faced landlord-tenant litigation tied to St. Thomas Social’s operations at Yacht Haven Grande, which was dismissed without prejudice in June. In all matters, McClafferty has denied allegations of wrongdoing and characterized some claims as business disputes.
