A Minnesota man was ticketed after he tossed $1,000 in dollar bills from the third floor of the Mall of America into an audience watching a performance there, police said.
Vorobyov had allegedly stamped each of the singles with the address to his YouTube page before dumping the money on a crowd Friday, which had gathered in the rotunda for a performance by a trio of vocalists singing, "Let it Snow."
Serge Vorobyov said in a YouTube video following the incident at the mall in Bloomington that it was his "last $1,000" and that he's going through divorce.
"I thought I'd just spread some holiday cheer, be positive and pay-it-forward type of thing," he said in the video. "And make it snow money."
As the trio sang the stanza, 'Let it snow', Vorobyov, who was riding an escalator, pulled the singles from a bag by the handful and tossed the money over the railing, prompting the crowd below to audibly gasp and reach to the sky in an attempt to catch the falling bills.
Bloomington police gave Vorobyov a ticket for disorderly conduct for the his elaborate stunt, the Star Tribune reported.
"I don't see how holiday cheer is disorderly conduct," Vorobyov responded.
Mall of America spokeswoman Sarah Schmidt told the Star Tribune that it was the first incident of its kind for the mall and said that Vorobyov disrupted the performance and could’ve caused a serious situation.
Vorobyov was released at the scene.