Angie Báez, 40, a JPMorgan Chase Executive Director, was identified as the Knicks fan who stole an orange-and-blue branded trash can during the NBA Finals championship parade – and has since been fired.
The Viral Moment That Started Everything
The video of Báez walking off with one of the custom Knicks-themed New York City trash cans racked up more than 5 million views across social media platforms, becoming the defining viral clip of the entire championship celebration.
The orange-and-blue cans were placed along the parade route as part of the city’s coordinated championship infrastructure – not souvenirs, and certainly not meant to leave the sidewalk.
Internet sleuths connected Báez to her JPMorgan Chase profile within days of the clip going viral, per The New York Post, which first reported her identity and employment background.
She was not alone – multiple videos from the same day showed fans loading Knicks-branded cans into cars, with some listings appearing online asking hundreds to thousands of dollars for the collectibles tied to the franchise’s first title in decades.
A JPMorgan Chase executive was fired after a viral video showed her dumping trash out of a Knicks-themed public trash can and taking the can during the Knicks championship parade in New York City.
🎥:mel_aston pic.twitter.com/jDpPPXMyTL
— Complex (@Complex) June 24, 2026
JPMorgan Chase Moved Fast – The Firing Was Real and Swift
Báez had been promoted to Executive Director of Community and Industry Engagement for Card and Connected Commerce at JPMorgan Chase more than a year ago, a senior public-facing role that made her identification significantly more newsworthy than a random street-level grab.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson confirmed the outcome bluntly to The Post: “This employee is no longer with the company.”
Both things can be true simultaneously: the energy of a first championship parade in decades makes fans do things they otherwise wouldn’t, and a senior executive at one of the country’s largest financial institutions stealing city property on camera carries real professional consequences, full stop.
The honest qualifier sits right next to that – NYPD told TMZ they had no complaint reports on file as of June 20 and Báez had not been charged, meaning the criminal exposure is minimal while the career fallout was immediate and total.
The Reaction Reflects the Larger Knicks Moment – and Its Edges
Social media split predictably: some called the firing disproportionate for a low-dollar theft, others argued someone in a senior public-facing role simply cannot go viral stealing city property.
The NYC Department of Sanitation publicly condemned the behavior, calling removal of street cans illegal and anti-social, and used the moment to remind residents the fixtures belong to the public.
This parade moment sits alongside the collectibles surge tied to the Knicks championship as evidence of just how intensely this city has responded to the title, with fan behavior generating its own parallel news cycle.
The Knicks championship run has produced no shortage of viral flashpoints – as this site’s coverage of the Wembanyama handshake controversy documents, the celebration has carried drama well beyond the final buzzer.
The trash can saga adds a distinctly New York layer: a championship, a stolen piece of city street furniture, and a six-figure career gone in roughly 48 hours.
What Comes Next for Báez and the City
The next hard checkpoint is whether NYPD receives a formal complaint now that Báez has been publicly identified – that determination will clarify whether this ends as an employment consequence or escalates into a misdemeanor petit larceny case.
City officials and event planners are also expected to revisit how limited-edition public fixtures are secured at future parades to prevent a repeat of the theft pattern seen throughout the Knicks celebration.
Keep an eye out on NYSD for further updates on Angie Báez and the fallout from the Knicks championship parade as this situation develops.
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