SantaCon organiser charged with stealing $1m from charity pub crawl

Source: BBC

The president of SantaCon, an annual event in New York City in December where thousands of young people dress up as Santa Claus and drink across the city, has been charged with wire fraud.

Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York say Stefan Pildes, 50, siphoned more than $1m (£737,000) raised through the SantaCon charity for his own personal use.
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But prosecutors allege that of about $2.7m (£1.989m) raised from SantaCon, Pildes diverted more than half the money to a "slush fund" for his own personal ventures, using hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for "concert tickets, fine dining, luxury vacations, and home renovations".

Prosecutors allege that Pildes spent $365,000 to renovate a lakefront property in New Jersey, $124,000 on a luxury Manhattan apartment, and nearly $3,000 on a birthday dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan.



Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl11g21ex8o