SantaCon promoter arrested for charity fraud, New York federal prosecutors say

The president of SantaCon was arrested on Wednesday on a federal criminal indictment accusing him of using the ticketed Christmas bar-crawl event to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for charity to personal use, New York federal prosecutors said.

The defendant, Stefan Pildes, who claimed he did not receive any compensation from SantaCon allegedly spent the diverted funds on extensive renovations to a lakefront property in New Jersey, luxury vacations in Hawaii, Las Vegas and Vail, Colorado, concert tickets, extrvagant meals and a luxury vehicle, according to the indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

About $124,000 of the SantaCon funds were spent toward leasing a luxury apartment in Manhattan, and another $100,000 was invested in a boutique resort in Costa Rica founded by a friend of Pildes, the indictment said.

Pildes "donated only a small fraction" of the approximately $2.7 million raised from SantaCon went to charity, according to the indictment against him.

Pildes, 50, "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 statement.

"He took advantage of New Yorkers' generous holiday spirit to finance his lifestyle through personal expenses, big and small," Clayton said.

Prosecutors said Pildes raised at least $2.7 million for charity from 2019 through 2024, but diverted more than half of that money obtained for his non-profit group, dubbed Participatory Safety, went "to a slush fund."

The resident of Hewitt, N.J., is charged with one count of wire fraud. He is expected to appear on Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan federal court.

The indictment comes more than two years after the news site Gothamist reported that an analysis showed that Participatory Safety raised "raised $1.4 million through SantaCon programming from late 2014 through the end of 2022," but that "less than a fifth of that money has gone to registered nonprofits."

"More than a third of the organization's total giving during that period went to groups or individuals who appear connected to Burning Man, the annual weeklong festival in Nevada, including organizations devoted to hula hooping, dance parades, free costumes and more," Gothamist reported.

The report said that the largest donation by Participatory Safety went to "a for-profit outfit: $66,340 to Spectaculum Productions, LLC, maker of the documentary film 'At Your Cervix,' an exposé about pelvic exams performed by medical students on unconscious and non-consenting patients.

And in 2018, Participatory Safety "lost $17,498 worth of investments it made in cryptocurrencies – equal to about a third of its charitable giving that year," Gothamist reported. "More than $832,000 of the money raised from SantaCon programming – or 59% – went to the nonprofit's expenses, not including its charitable grants."

Prosecutors said he "defrauded tens of thousands of individuals and small business owners who participated in" SantaCon, which annually draws about 25,000 people dressed as Santa Claus and other holiday characters to bars and restaurants in New York City. Tickets for the event cost between $10 and $20.

Pildes served as president of and controlled the nonprofit entity that organizes SantaCon, Participatory Safety, Inc., prosecutors said.

The indictment against him said that attendees were told that proceeds from SantaCon would go to various charities. In December 2024, the indictment said, Pildes on his website said ticket money went "directly to Santa's charity drive," and that "your money will be split between the various charities listed on this page as well as local charities along Santa's route."

FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office James Barnacle, Jr. said Pildes "allegedly stole Christmas from tens of thousands of victims and deprived local charities of more than one million dollars."

"The FBI continues to root out scrooges that greedily exploit the goodwill of New Yorkers," Barnacle said in a statement.

A lawyer for Pildes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.