Promoter behind disastrous Fyre Festival arrested for wire fraud
He’ll be arraigned in Manhattan federal court Saturday on a charge of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.
The weekend festival, held last April, was organized by the 25-year-old McFarland and Rapper Ja Rule, who was not charged.
The men convinced well-to-do millennials and music lovers to shell out thousands of dollars for tickets based on promises of getting to socialize with models and enjoy musical acts like Migos, Lil Yachty and Blink-182.
But dozens of festival-goers have since sued, saying that instead of the gourmet food and luxury accommodations they were promised, they got sandwiches made of bread and cheese and FEMA tents.
One lawsuit claimed that despite knowing the festival was going to be a disaster, McFarland and Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, continued to promote the event and sell tickets.
A class-action lawsuit, filed in California, also accused McFarland and Rule of personally reaching out to A-listers in advance to warn them not to attend.
McFarland was also accused of spending lavish amounts of money hyping the event rather than getting it ready for attendees.
The indictment said he gave $250,000 to Kendall Jenner, who then promoted it on Instagram.
Others hyping the show on social media were Emily Ratajkowski and Bella Haddid. It was not immediately known if they had been paid.
Acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim said, “McFarland promised a `life changing’ music festival but in actuality delivered a disaster.’’
Kim said McFarland showed fake documents to at least two investors, who then $1.2 million in his company, “Fyre Media.’’
McFarland allegedly told investors Fyre Media earned millions of dollars from thousands of artist bookings from at least July 2016 until April 2017.
But during that period, it earned less than $60,000, Kim said.
McFarland was arrested at his Manhattan home.
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