Fyre Festival

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Fyre Fest II 'Finally Happening,' Says Failed Fyre Fest Founder

Billy McFarland is teasing second music festival, details still unknown, after going to jail for first one

(Newser) - A year after his release from prison, the founder of the failed Fyre Festival is teasing round two. "Fyre Festival II is finally happening. Tell me why you should be invited," Billy McFarland tweeted Sunday. He hasn't revealed details but suggested the event would again take place...

Attendees of Failed Fyre Festival Could Get Thousands

Settlement, subject to approval, puts forth payments of $7.2K each

(Newser) - Some 277 people who traveled to the Bahamas for Fyre Festival in 2017 could be getting a payout. A class-action lawsuit has been followed by a settlement between ticketholders and the trustee of Fyre Festival assets, filed in US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday,...

The Festival Fizzled Out. But the Feds Find a Way to Profit

The US Marshals Service puts merchandise and 'minor assets' up for auction

(Newser) - More than three years after the highly publicized Fyre Festival famously fizzled out in the Bahamas, merchandise and other "minor assets" are up for sale—courtesy of the US Marshals Service, the AP reports. In a release Thursday, the US Marshals announced that 126 items from the festival will...

Kendall Jenner Was 'So Hyped' —And Now Has to Pay $90K

The model was sued over a single Instagram post

(Newser) - Kendall Jenner has agreed to pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit over the disastrous Fyre Festival —you know, the one that spawned two documentaries and got its organizer sent to prison on wire fraud charges. Jenner was sued in an effort to recover money for creditors who invested...

Fyre Fest Caterer Who Lost Her Savings Gets Good News

Thanks to new documentaries bringing attention to her plight, Maryann Rolle is raising money

(Newser) - The disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival , a supposedly luxurious music festival in the Bahamas that turned out to be a big mess, is the subject of two new documentaries—and thanks to the publicity, a caterer who says she was never paid is getting a happy ending. Restaurant owner Maryann Rolle...

Guy Behind Fyre Festival Fiasco Learns His Fate

Billy McFarland gets 6 years in prison

(Newser) - Declaring him to be a "serial fraudster" who has been "dishonest most of his life," a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday sentenced the organizer of 2017's Fyre Festival to six years in prison, the New York Times reports. For his part, 26-year-old Billy McFarland acknowledged...

Prosecutors Want Fyre Fest Promoter to Get Prison

They say Billy McFarland has duped investors out of $26M

(Newser) - Prosecutors urged a judge Wednesday to sentence the promoter of a botched, highly publicized music festival in the Bahamas to over 15 years in prison, the AP reports. In a written filing in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said Billy McFarland was "far more interested in the fame and notoriety...

Guilty Plea From Man Behind 'Cultural Experience of Decade'

Well, that's what the Fyre Festival was supposed to be at least

(Newser) - The promoter of the failed Fyre Festival in the Bahamas—once billed as the "cultural experience of the decade"—pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges Tuesday, agreeing to serve up to a decade in prison for lying to investors who lost over $26 million. Billy McFarland, 26, entered...

Man Behind Fyre Festival Fiasco Busted for Fraud

William McFarland faces one count of wire fraud, scores of lawsuits

(Newser) - Failed Fyre Festival co-founder William McFarland was set to appear before a federal judge on Saturday, one day after his arrest for wire fraud. CNN reports McFarland faces charges he defrauded at least two investors who put up $1.2 million to back his ultra-luxe Bahamas music festival that crashed...

NYT Gets Its Hands on Telling Recording of Fyre Fest Meeting

'NYT' cites audio of an apparently unfazed Ja Rule, partner after fiasco

(Newser) - People won't soon forget the Ja Rule "luxury" music fest in the Bahamas that ended in chaos . The performer and his business partner, Billy McFarland, apologized afterward, but the pair's company, Fyre Media, has now been slammed with more than a dozen lawsuits, and a source tells...

Disastrous Music Festival Now Facing $100M Lawsuit

Fyre Festival organizers Billy McFarland and Ja Rule hit with class-action litigation

(Newser) - If organizers of the music-festival-turned-disaster known as the Fyre Festival had hoped to make a quick buck, their strategy may be backfiring in a big way. Rolling Stone reports that an attendee/survivor has filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit against festival creators Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, aka Jeffrey...

Organizers Sorry for 'Unacceptable' Luxury Festival Chaos

They're going to try again in the US

(Newser) - After delivering a "luxury" festival experience so bad some attendees likened it to The Lord of the Flies, the people behind the Fyre Festival have promised much better things next time around. In a statement to Billboard , festival co-owners Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule give their side of...

$12K Tickets to Luxury Music Festival Definitely Not Worth It

Fyre Festival in Bahamas postponed amid chaos, confusion

(Newser) - Thousands of people who had paid as much as $12,780 to attend a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas arrived Thursday to find what they're describing as a "scam," a "sham," and a "complete cluster." The New York ...

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