A couple who raised $400,000 (£308,000) for a homeless veteran have been given 24 hours to hand over all the money after he accused them of pocketing the donations.
Kate McClure, 28, launched the fundraising drive to help Johnny Bobbitt Jr after he gave her “his last $20” so she could buy petrol.
She and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico, 35, said on a GoFundMe page they wanted to find Mr Bobbitt, 34, an apartment and a job.
But Mr Bobbitt, a former soldier and firefighter from North Carolina, this week sued the couple, claiming he did not get the full amount.
He said the couple bought him a camper van, which he lived in on the drive of their New Jersey home, and a used car, but nothing else.
His lawyers accused them of “enjoying a lifestyle they could not afford” — including buying a BMW — by using the fund as “their personal piggy bank”.
Ms McClure, a receptionist, and Mr D’Amico, a car mechanic, said they withheld the money to stop Mr Bobbitt spending it on drugs. They claimed he had “blown” $25,000 in a fortnight.
But a New Jersey judge yesterday ordered them to hand over all the remaining $150,000.
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