Instead, the festival was scheduled to take place in an abandoned resort development. Furthermore, Great Exuma was not a private or remote island. In reality, the festival was in a remote parking lot north of a Sandals Resort and a nearby marina where locals' boats were stored. Material released on social media continued to promote the falsehood that the festival was being hosted on Pablo Escobar's private island, with maps of the site altered to make it appear as if Roker Point was an island unto itself. When they were kicked off of Norman's Cay, they only had four months before their inaugural festival on April 28–30th.Īfter several small islands that seemed like likely venues were turned down, and with only two months to go before the Fyre Festival, the Bahamian government gave McFarland a permit to use a site set aside for development at Roker Point ( 23☃8′06″N 75★5′08″W / 23.6350°N 75.9188°W / 23.6350 -75.9188) on Great Exuma, just north of the Sandals Resort. The owners cancelled their arrangement with McFarland soon after. This was the beginning of the Fyre Festival's promotional campaign, during which McFarland himself claimed that the island had been owned by Pablo Escobar, a falsehood. Text with the video promised "an immersive music festival. The video showed Bella Hadid and other models represented by her agency running around a tropical beach. On December 12, 2016, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and other influencers paid by Fyre simultaneously posted to their Instagram feeds a video with a thumbnail consisting of an orange square and a logo made of stylized flames. Promotional footage with hired supermodels was shot on Norman's Cay, and planning for the festival went ahead. McFarland then leased the island from the current owners, with the owners giving the strict condition that McFarland make no reference to Pablo Escobar (leader of the Medellín Cartel) in any marketing materials. During a flight to the Bahamas, McFarland and Ja Rule's private plane touched down on a lightly populated island which they later discovered was Norman's Cay, the former private island of Carlos Lehder Rivas, a kingpin of the Medellín Cartel. Ja Rule had come to know McFarland through regular visits to events McFarland hosted at his previous venture, Magnises.
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The festival was organized by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, to promote the Fyre music booking app. Planning and organization Īn aircraft featuring Fyre Festival branding, used to transport attendees to the festival. On April 9, 2023, Billy McFarland tweeted that there will be a Fyre Festival II.
GREED CORP UNABLE TO LAUNCH FAILURE SERIES
It was also featured on an episode of the CNBC series American Greed in 2019. Two documentaries about the events of the festival were released in 2019: Hulu's Fyre Fraud, and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. The cases accuse the organizers of defrauding ticket buyers. The organizers became the subject of at least eight lawsuits, several seeking class action status, and one seeking more than $100 million in damages. In October 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to forfeit US$26 million. In March 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud to defraud investors and ticket holders, and a second count to defraud a ticket vendor that occurred while out on bail. Instead of the luxury villas and gourmet meals for which festival attendees paid hundreds of dollars, they received prepackaged sandwiches and FEMA tents as their accommodation. During the Fyre Festival's inaugural weekend, the event experienced problems related to security, food, accommodation, medical services and artist relations, resulting in the festival being postponed indefinitely – and eventually cancelled. The event was promoted on Instagram by social media influencers including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Emily Ratajkowski, many of whom did not initially disclose they had been paid to do so. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma. It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival founded by con artist Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule.
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