A 29-year-old man’s plan to spread some holiday cheer by throwing $1000 from the upper floor of a US shopping mall has ended with him being cited by police.

Serge Vorobyov from Minnesota said he used the last of his cash to release the money in one dollar bills from the fourth floor of Bloomington’s Mall of America on Friday as performers crooned “Let it Snow”. They were not in on the act.

Mr Vorobyov told reporters that he is currently going through a divorce, has lost his car hauling business and hoped the positivity of throwing the money would come back to him.

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“I wanted to do some sort of pay it forward kind of thing,” he said.

Instead, he was arrested for disorderly conduct by police and released at the scene. He has also been banned from the shopping centre for a year.

Mr Vorobyov said that the act was a publicity stunt aimed at getting the attention of his estranged wife from whom he wants his cat back from.

He had also invited her to the mall in the hope of winning her back, but she didn't show up. All the bills were stamped with Mr Vorobyov’s YouTube address.

Mall of America spokeswoman Sarah Schmidt said this was the first time anyone has ever done anything of the like in the mall. She added that Mr Vorobyov disrupted the stage performance and could have caused a serious situation.