He’s on the naughty list!
The founder of the Christmas season bar crawl SantaCon was arrested Wednesday for wire fraud charges — for allegedly swiping hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for charity.
Stefan Pildes allegedly put the “con” in SantaCon by blowing the dough on pricey vacations to Hawaii and Las Vegas, along with extravagant meals and a high-end car, according to a federal indictment.
He also spent roughly $124,000 of the cash on leasing a luxury apartment in Manhattan, and another $100,000 on a boutique resort in Costa Rica, according to the indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York court.
“Pildes promoted SantaCon as an event grounded in charitable giving, but instead of donating the millions of dollars he raised, he ran his own con game,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a press release.
“He took advantage of New Yorkers’ generous holiday spirit to finance his lifestyle through personal expenses, big and small. No matter how you dress it up, fraud is fraud. We are committed to protecting New Yorkers from those who exploit their enthusiasm and generosity.”
Pildes “donated only a small fraction” of the $2.7 million raised from SantaCon to charity, according to the indictment against him.