Santacon NYC is back, under new management, after its former organizer was charged with fraud
Revelers fuel up on $1.50 pizza before taking to the streets at SantaCon NYC in 2025.
Jeremy Weine/Getty Images SantaCon is returning to NYC months after its former organizer, Stefan Pildes, was charged with wire fraud.
Prosecutors allege Pildes "misappropriated and stole" more than half of the millions SantaCon raised for charity.
The bar crawl is promising transparency under new management run by Pildes' longtime collaborator.
SantaCon, which draws tens of thousands of drunken revelers and their bodily fluids to the streets of New York City each year, is coming back under new management.
The notorious bar crawl returns eight months after federal prosecutors charged its longtime organizer, Stefan Pildes, with diverting more than half the millions SantaCon raised for charity to a "slush fund" he spent on lakefront property, luxury vacations, and other personal ventures.
Pildes was president of Participatory Safety, the registered nonprofit which holds the SantaCon trademark and served as the divisive event's official organizer from 2014 through 2025.
The indictment alleges that he "misappropriated and stole" more than $1.35 million in revenue from 2019 through 2024, raised via ticket sales and commissions from participating bars and clubs.
A Monday press release from a newly-formed corporation, North Pole NYC, advertised a Dec.
12 event, with special-access tickets priced from $15 to $30, and participating venues to be announced.
It said that Pildes was "no longer involved with the planning, operations, or leadership of SantaCon NYC" and will not participate in this year's event — one of the conditions of his April release on bond.
State records show that North Pole NYC was incorporated in September by Pildes' longtime SantaCon co-organizer Theresa "Shiny" Galeani.
Galeani told Business Insider that North Pole NYC aims to donate to local charities and is working to attain nonprofit status in the future.
Former SantaCon organizer Stefan Pildes leaves federal court in New York City after being arrested on April 15, 2026.
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