Return of the "worst festival in history"

In 2017, the American deceived rich guests, gathering them on the island without food and housing. He left prison and sells tickets again

In 2017, a grandiose festival - Fyre was supposed to be held on one of the Bahamas Islands. For tickets worth from $ 1,500 to $ 400,000, guests promised “Paradise Rest” along with Major Lazer and Blink-182 artists. But instead, disassembled tents, sandwiches and a lack of drinking water were waiting on the island. The organizer was accused of fraud and put for six years, but now he is free and is preparing a new festival.

In order not to miss the main materials of the "cold", subscribe to our Instagram and telegram .

In May 2023, the United States announced a grand musical festival on the island in the Caribbean. By August, tickets were opened , the price of which starts from 499 and reaches eight thousand dollars. Judging by the counter on the site, some of them are already sold.

“This is an absolutely crazy journey, and it began in the seventh month of stay in a single chamber,” the main organizer told reporters.

The event is called Fyre Festival II. Its creator Billy McFarland recently left prison: his first festival turned out to be fraud and was remembered as "the worst music festival in history."

"Luxurious rest"

For the first time about Fyre Festival, it became known at the end of 2016 after bright advertising with the models of Belaya Hadid and Emily Ratakovsky, who rest on the Bahamas of Exuma. The description said that the purchase of a ticket guarantees two days of luxurious recreation with diving, aquabikes and performances by Major Lazer and Blink-182. The cheapest tickets for the festival cost $ 1,500. And for the amount of 400 thousand, it was possible to rent a house for eight people at the VIP-house, next to one of the invited stars. Fyre Festival tickets quickly sold out.

An alarming calls appeared before the opening. On the eve of the first day of the festival in social networks, reports about problems with transport and guests stuck at airports began to appear. And then the musicians from Blink-182 canceled their performance, explaining that "they are not sure that they will have everything they need."

Those who were still able to get to the place quickly regretted it. Instead of dishes from the best cooks of the world, sandwiches were handed out tired guests, and they offered to rest in half -wrapped tents . The baggage was thrown to the ground directly from the truck who came from the airport, and some guests had to look for their bags for hours, and someone was completely missing their things .

However, the quest for guests did not end there. It was even more difficult to fly away from the island. One of the visitors to the festival, the interior designer Mod Etkin, told The New Yorker that to get to the airport, she had to negotiate with a local school bus driver. But it was not possible to fly away. “About two in the morning we got on the plane. Then the crew informed us of the problems and forced us to go out. Then sit down again - and go out again. They [the airport employees] every now and then selected our passports, then gave them out; They forced people to get up, sit down and shout their names, ”Mod said.

At seven in the morning, employees of the Bahamsky airport locked the entire group in a small room - customers of tickets to the expensive festival were left without water and food. “Even vending machines were locked. We were scared because we could not get to the embassy. Of course, there was no conversation with Fyre, who mainly sent us spam by e -mail, ”Mod recalled. At about eight in the morning, someone lost consciousness, and the guests of the festival finally brought water.

Those who tried to return the money could not do this. On the site Fyre Festival, they were met by the banner: “All sales are final. There is no return. ”

Growth problems

When people still managed to get out of the island, the Ministry of Tourism of the Bahamas stated that only the organizers were responsible for what had happened. Namely, Billy McFarland.

McFarland grew up in the American state of New Jersey. He entered the University of Banknell, but did not study there for a year: he quit his studies to open his own startup - Magnice.

The idea of ​​business was to sell membership in a community that organizes entertainment events. For an annual contribution of $ 250, the client gained access to the open bar in Townhaus in Greenwich Willij, where McFarland himself arranged parties, as well as tours of the Bagama, the opportunity to book tables in hard-to-reach restaurants and buy tickets for concerts with discounts. In just three years, according to McFarland himself, he was able to attract more than three million dollars of venture capital to the project.

At the same time, the program participants often remained unhappy. One of the former members of Magnises told Business Insider that almost no event at which he bought tickets was calm. The day before the concert, the company sent a notification that it could not provide the promised service. After complaints, the tickets were still sent, but they were framed on other people.

Similar problems arose with the purchase of air tickets. The trips were constantly transferred, and the return of funds could only be achieved by threats to contact the authorities. In addition, the service often demanded to pay membership earlier than the declared deadline or simply wrote off the money from the accounts of its customers.

McFarland explained all such cases with technical difficulties and rapid growth of the company.

The next McFarland project was Fyre's failure festival. After numerous complaints of customers, he was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison, as well as the payment of a fine of $ 26 million. The verdict, the judge called McFarland a "serial fraudster."

"The worst festival" 2.0

In May 2022, Billy McFarland was released ahead of schedule.

“I spent one of the most viral campaigns on social networks in history,” he wrote on Twitter after liberation. - I screwed up, broke the law and spent four years in prison. I used this time - including 10 months in a single chamber - inventing how to make peace with everyone. ”

On Twitter, he told the story of his life and wrote that he plans to work 85 hours a week to pay off debts. There he announced the opening of the project, in which he was going to take celebrities and influential people to the “remote tropical island”, and then create a virtual copy so that users can join the stars, “sitting at home on the couch”. As planned, people will be able to transfer money to, for example, order a cocktail of themselves and their favorite celebrities.

McFarland also promised that he would give personal consultations to promote business for $ 1800 per hour. Soon he announced Fyre Festival II.

According to the release agreement, McFarland will remain under the supervision of the police for another three years. He is obliged to regularly undergo an audit in law enforcement agencies, as well as officially work at least 30 hours a week. In the context of the agreement on the early release of McFarland, it is not said about the ban on the organization of such events.

“This means that the bailiffs, most likely, had to give him permission to organize,” said Larry Levin, lawyer and founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants.

Even if Fyre Festival II will take place, McFarland himself will not be able to visit it without court permission. While supervision is operating, he is forbidden to travel outside the Southern District of New York. However, judging by the documents at the disposal of Levin, the court has already allowed some relief and allowed McFarland to go to Germany for the Vender Summit 2023 VED conference.

Even if McFarland can be earned, most of the money will probably go to pay fines and debts to the participants of the past “worst festival”. Despite the businessman’s statements that he had already collected a sufficient amount to close debts to deceived customers, there were still no payments.