The man behind New York City’s SantaCon didn’t just throw a rowdy annual charity pub crawl — he was a secret scrooge who “ran his own con game,” federal prosecutors allege, siphoning millions from an event marketed as a philanthropic fundraiser.
Stefan Pildes, the 50-year-old president of SantaCon, which regularly drew in over 25,000 festively dressed drinkers across New York, was charged with a single count of wire fraud on Wednesday. The charge carries with it a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Prosecutors said Pildes marketed SantaCon as a charity event, encouraging attendees to purchase tickets, usually between $10 and $20 each, under the premise that proceeds benefit nonprofit causes, such as The Children’s Heart Foundation and Clowns Without Borders. Instead, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York accused him of diverting funds into accounts he controlled and using them for personal expenses, such as a luxury vehicle and concert tickets, rather than donating them.
While prosecutors did not disclose the exact amount Pildes is accused of misusing, they said he used more than half of the roughly $2.7 million generated by SantaCon between 2019 and 2024 for his own benefit. Only a “small fraction” ever reached charity, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said in an indictment that the “slush fund” Pildes created was used to splurge on items including extravagant vacations in Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Vail, more than $365,000 in renovations to a lakeside property in New Jersey, a $124,000 lease on a luxury Manhattan apartment, and nearly $3,000 on a birthday dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan.
An attorney for Pildes has not yet been named in court filings, and Pildes did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Eyewitness News ABC7NY reported Pildes pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday afternoon.
“Pildes allegedly stole Christmas from tens of thousands of victims and deprived local charities of more than one million dollars,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. said in a statement about the charges. “The FBI continues to root out scrooges that greedily exploit the goodwill of New Yorkers.”
SantaCon has long had a fraught reputation in New York City, where the annual holiday bar crawl draws tens of thousands of costumed revelers — and persistent complaints from locals about unruly behavior. Critics have questioned its charitable framing, arguing the event often resembles “a drunken free-for-all” despite being marketed as a fundraiser.
Business Insider in 2023 reported on an investigation by the New York City blog Gothamist, operated by New York Public Radio, which found that large sums of SantaCon’s funds had been funneled into crypto and toward groups related to Burning Man.
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