SantaCon founder Stefan Pildes accused of siphoning charitable funds for NYC holiday bar crawl for his own use

New York — The founder of SantaCon is a fraud, according to federal prosecutors in New York.

Stefan Pildis was arrested Wednesday on federal fraud charges that accuse him of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable funds for his own use.

SantaCon is an annual drunken bar crawl in December where 25,000 people dress up as Santa Claus and other holiday characters and travel to bars and restaurants throughout the day in New York City.

The event is described as “a charitable, non-political, non-sensical Santa Claus convention held once a year to spread silly joy.” But of the nearly $3 million Pildis collected, he transferred more than half to an entity that used it as an illicit fund, according to the indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.

The indictment said Bilds used the money to “fund various personal projects” and to pay for concert tickets, fine dining, luxury vacations and home renovations while donating only “a small portion” to charity.

SantaCon events from 2019 to 2024 generated approximately $2.7 million in revenue in part by marketing itself as “a 501c3 charitable organization that, over the past 10 years, has raised more than $1 million for local New York City charities, specifically funding the arts and fighting hunger.”

“But instead of donating the millions of dollars he raised, Defendant Stefan Pildes misappropriated and stole the majority of SantaCon proceeds by transferring them to an entity controlled by Pildes, Creative Opportunities Group, Inc., which has no general affiliation with SantaCon,” the indictment reads.

He allegedly used other proceeds on extensive renovations to a lakefront property in New Jersey, luxury vacations in Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Vail, extravagant meals and a luxury car.

Pildis pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and was released on $300,000 bail.