We can all agree that, between the evacuations and the lawsuits, Fyre Festival did not go well. Given the unlivable conditions and the fact that no artists showed up and the event was "postponed," Fyre Festival was certainly a far cry from the millennial hyper-wealthy paradise as it was advertised. Since the glorious shitshow of the late April music fest, things have continued to go downhill for its organizers Billy McFarland and Ja Rule.
Because the exact thing you would want after getting stranded on an island devoid of basic human necessities is to try it again next year, Fyre organizers offered guests tickets to next year's event in lieu of a refund. Then they revealed that their own employees wouldn't be getting paid. And along the way, organisers have racked up at least seven different lawsuits for familiar breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation claims, and violation of New York state business law.
As if that wasn't enough, the New York Times now reports that Fyre Festival is now being investigated by the FBI:
The endeavor has also become the focus of a criminal investigation, with federal authorities looking into possible mail, wire and securities fraud, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, who was not authorized to discuss it. The investigation is being conducted by the United States attorney's office for the Southern District of New York and the F.B.I.; it is being overseen by a prosecutor assigned to the complex frauds and cybercrime unit. (A spokesman for the United States attorney's office and a spokeswoman for the F.B.I. declined to comment.)
Even Blink-182, the festival's headliner who backed out at the last minute, can't get its equipment out of customs limbo, the New York Times reports. But possibly the best part of this article is a passage in which the writers seem to suggest that McFarland should be played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Hollywood biopic about the shady organizer:
Ja Rule was Fyre's famous face, but at the center of the controversy is Mr. McFarland, a brash, 25-year-old entrepreneur with a gift for networking and buzzy social media. In his short career, he has persuaded people, over and over, to buy or invest in whatever he was selling, leaving behind a trail of aggrieved customers and business partners. He could be the Wolf of Wall Street for the selfie set, or Gatsby run through an Instagram filter.
Oh well. There's always next year, right?
