The Guy Behind The Disastrous Fyre Festival Has Been Arrested And Charged With Fraud
Not Ja Rule. The other guy.
One of the men behind the unmitigated clusterfuck that was the “luxurious” Fyre Festival has been arrested and charged with fraud. Not Ja Rule. The other guy.
According to The New York Times, 25-year-old entrepreneur Billy McFarland was arrested by the FBI in Manhattan on Friday and charged with one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that McFarland defrauded investors in his company, Fyre Media, to the tune of more than one million dollars.
In case you don’t remember (although honestly, how could you forget?), Fyre Festival was sold as an ultra-exclusive “cultural moment” in the Bahamas that was promoted by celebrities including Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and Bella Hadid. Cashed-up punters paid thousands of dollars for tickets, for which they were promised “first-class culinary experiences and a luxury atmosphere” along with sets from the likes of Blink-182, Migos and Major Lazer.
Boy, were they in for a surprise.
Stuck at #fyrefestival trying to leave for the last 8 hours. barley any food or water or security or electricity pic.twitter.com/jHPMnJw5gx
— Lamaan (@LamaanElGallal) April 28, 2017
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Trevor DeHaas (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
These are the secure lockers at Fyre Fest. They forgot to tell us we needed locks. #fyrefestival #fyrefest pic.twitter.com/Tqyjqbg2Gy
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
This sums up Fyre Festival. #fyre #fyrefestival #fyrefest pic.twitter.com/x4xcFBL8Yg
— William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017
Naturally, the thought of a bunch of wealthy millennials trapped on an island without electricity, shelter or food made a lot of people on the internet very, very happy.
#FyreFestival is an art installation where mediocre people realize what their lives would be like without rich parents.
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) April 28, 2017
I prayed and prayed for a new, better final season of LOST and it has arrived in the form of #fyrefestival
— Chris Daniels (@sirchrisdaniels) April 28, 2017
The twitter response to #FyreFestival is how I imagine the response to the incident on Jurassic World would be if it actually happened.
— Dave Hughes (@davehughesMHz) April 29, 2017
In a statement on Friday, Joon H. Kim, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that “McFarland allegedly presented fake documents to induce investors to put over a million dollars into his company and the fiasco called the Fyre Festival.”
If convicted, McFarland could face up to 20 years in prison, although the paper points out he would likely receive a lesser sentence.
Ja Rule has not been charged. His lawyer told the paper that “[he] is not under arrest and we don’t perceive him to be a subject of this investigation.” However, both Rule and McFarland are facing more than a dozen lawsuits citing (among other things) fraud, breach of contract, negligence and violation of consumer protection law.
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Feature image via Alice Mizrahi/Twitter