SantaCon founder ‘splashed charity donations’ in Las Vegas and luxury homes

The founder of SantaCon appears to be more Scrooge than jolly St Nick after being arrested for siphoning off charity money from his event, which sees thousands of rowdy Santas descend on New York.

Organiser Stefan Pildes, 50, is accused of splashing hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury apartments even renovating a lakeside property in his native New Jersey.

Authorities said Pildes siphoned more than half of the $2.7million proceeds raised each year to an entity he controlled, using those funds to finance various personal ventures.

He’s also accused of spending thousands to pay for concert tickets, luxury vacations in Hawaii and Las Vegas, extravagant meals and a luxury vehicle.

Pildes did not comment after an initial court appearance on a wire fraud charge and was freed on $300,000 bail.

SantaCon features a ticketed bar crawl that has attracted over 25,000 people each December, even spreading to London in recent years.

New Yorkers despise the chaos it brings to city streets and subways, as hard-drinking Santas, a few Mrs Clauses, elves and the occasional Grinch, are seen drinking heavily, urinating in public and throwing up.

Pildes allegedly 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,’ US 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.’

Participants were told that proceeds from SantaCon would go to good causes such as ‘fighting hunger’ and ‘arts funding’—  with the event’s website stating that proceeds go ‘directly to Santa’s charity drive,’ according to the indictment.

‘Your money will be split between the various charities listed on this page as well as local charities along Santa’s route’, Pildes insisted on the website.

‘The FBI continues to root out scrooges that greedily exploit the goodwill of New Yorkers,’ James Barnacle, FBI Assistant Director, said in a statement.