A JPMorgan DEI Executive Went Viral With Knicks Theft and What Happened at Work Next Should Surprise Nobody

A video of a woman dumping a public trash can onto a Manhattan sidewalk to steal it went viral last week.

The woman turned out to run equity and inclusion for one of the biggest banks in America.

What JPMorgan Chase did when they found out tells you everything about what DEI actually means to the people who sell it.

A Career Built on Making a Positive Impact

Angie Báez, 40, held the title of Executive Director of Community and Industry Engagement for Card and Connected Commerce at JPMorgan Chase.

Before JPMorgan, she ran diversity, equity, and inclusion operations at The Infatuation, a restaurant review website Chase bought to expand into lifestyle content.

Her official bio called her one of the "brightest voices" in food media.

It described her as someone whose "dedication to making a positive impact shines through in every aspect of her work."

It praised her for leading the way "toward a more inclusive and equitable future for food media."

That bio has since been scrubbed from The Infatuation's website.

On June 18th, while thousands of New Yorkers celebrated the Knicks' first NBA championship in 53 years, Báez spotted a limited-edition blue-and-orange trash can – Knicks colors – and made a decision.

She dumped its contents onto the sidewalk.

She shook the can to make sure it was empty.

Then she walked away with it.

A bystander caught the whole thing on camera and asked the obvious question: "What are you doing?"

Báez didn't answer.

Additional footage showed her riding the New York City subway with the stolen bin.

By Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase had seen enough.

A bank spokesperson told the New York Post: "This employee is no longer with the company."

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Rules for Thee

Báez didn't just hold a DEI title.

She co-founded Same Page Co., a queer and BIPOC-owned talent agency whose stated mission is increasing representation and equity across media and industry.

She previously ran DEI programs at Squarespace, Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson's Bay, and Saks Off 5th.

She spent her career writing policies, giving talks, and collecting paychecks to make the world more equitable.

Then she dumped someone else's trash on a public sidewalk so she could take home a souvenir.

The New York City Department of Sanitation issued a statement that didn't hide its contempt: "Dumping trash onto the street and stealing public property for your own personal use are both illegal, antisocial behaviors, and not what New Yorkers do. On top of all that, doing both on camera is incredibly stupid."

Under New York law, theft of property valued under $1,000 is petit larceny – a Class A misdemeanor.

The city sells those same limited-edition Knicks trash cans for $168.

As of this writing, the NYPD has received no complaints related to the incident and Báez has not been charged with a crime.

The DEI Industry's Mirror Moment

When Trump signed executive orders dismantling DEI programs across the federal government in January 2025, most of corporate America quietly folded.

Walmart quit. McDonald's quit. Meta quit. Google quit.

JPMorgan Chase did not.

The bank made a public point of standing behind its diversity commitments while its peers walked away.

Angie Báez was the product of that investment.

What she did at the Knicks parade was not complicated.

She saw something she wanted.

She decided the rules didn't apply to her.

She made the people around her deal with the mess she created so she could walk away with the prize.

That's not an accident.

That's a worldview.

The DEI industry has spent the better part of a decade telling corporate America that the problem with the world is that certain people don't get what they deserve.

What it never explained was who gets left with the trash.

Sources:

• Lydia Moynihan, "Woman who emptied Knicks trashcan on street — then stole it — is fired from JPMorgan Chase, was DEI exec," New York Post, June 23, 2026.
• "Knicks parade attendee who dumped trash on sidewalk identified as JPMorgan Chase DEI exec, promptly fired," OutKick, June 24, 2026.
• "JPMorgan Chase Reportedly Fires Senior Executive Who Stole Trash Bin During Knicks Parade," TMZ, June 24, 2026.
• "Woman Who Allegedly Dumped Trash At Knicks Parade Identified As JPMorgan Chase DEI Executive, Fired From Job," The Daily Caller, June 24, 2026.
• "JPMorgan DEI Executive's Knicks Celebration Ends In Career Disaster," The Daily Wire, June 24, 2026.