SantaCon Organizer Arrested on Fraud Charges

0:00On April 18, Stefan Pildes, the guy behind New York City, Sannecon, got arrested Wednesday morning on federal wire fraud charges. Prosecutors say he pocketed hundreds of thousands in donation money meant for charity, blowing it on fancy vacations and big meals instead. Tickets ran 10 to 20 bucks a pop, and he took up to a quarter of bar sales from the event. Santa Con started as some anti-capitalist street thing out west, but turned into a massive bar crawl here, with thousands in Santa suit's flooding spots, like the East Village. Neighborhoods have hated it for years over fights, puking, and peeing in public, so bars started banning the Sanstas. Locals are cracking up online, dropping laughing emojis and memes about the con in Sannecon. City leaders like Councilmember Harvey Epstein call it a chaotic free-for-all that ignores residents with organizers dodging rules and staying. Shady. Pildes showed up in court hours later, around 6.20am, rocking what looked like pajamas.

1:00He pleaded not guilty to the charge that could mean up to 20 years inside. A judge cut him loose on a $300,000 bond, but banned him from touching Sannecon at all. This bus shines a light on how these big party events hide behind charity claims, leaving folks wondering if next year's crawl will clean up or just. Keep stumbling along.