Fyre festival organizers hit with $100 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit

boing
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Besides the whole “private island” thing (when it wasn’t), they made some very specific promises that they made no effort to fulfill. They provided drawings of “cabanas” that were supposed to house people (and which were clearly not tents), but there didn’t seem to be any intention of building them, they failed to provide sufficient food for the expected number of people (which suggests they decided not to spend the money), there was some really shady business with selling the tickets and then trying to sell “extras” that were supposed to be included, etc. Certainly there seems to have been incompetence so severe it’s difficult to draw the line, but the thing is, they did hire some competent planners, only they did so very late and mislead them how much had already been prepared (when nothing had been done), and those planners told them this event was going to have to happen next year because it wasn’t going to be possible this year. But apparently the decision was made - by marketing - to go ahead, knowing that, because they had come up with some great money-making schemes. So at least some people knew they couldn’t offer what they had promised, and didn’t care.

My feeling is that this was a scam that they were too incompetent to actually pull off.

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Who quit when they found out that there was no payment, only promises. See also “Why no bands”.

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What’s Piggy’s favourite shampoo?

Head & Boulders

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Makes sense - appreciate the detailed analysis.

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I rather suspect this is the first of many future incidents and scams. Money has a hard time sitting in one place - and fool and his money are easily parted.

Sorry jet set. No I’m not. Yes I am. No I’m not. Yes I am.

This would never have happened in the 50s.

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Yeah. But these people are unbelievably stupid. Travelling internationally. Take some cash. Seriously. It’s not Disney Land (where you need $$$ just to survive one day). Take some medical stuff - it’s an island; you can’t count on help - for instance, if everyone has bad oysters and voms everywhere. A little shade of boy scout would help.

It’s an island Lord only knows where, that they knew nothing about (Google woulda told 'em!) and they just bought it hook, line and sinker. Didn’t they look? Are they that lazy, entitled and slothful that they really truly thought they were on a TV set? (Not that that would be any kind of a good place to be - heard about the reality show in Scotland that went off air but left the contestants ‘surviving in the wild’??!)

Ignorant, stunted, stupid.

You can see them heading back and being told by Daddy - "Well, I’m sure that taught you a lesson!’ - ‘what lesson is that, Dad?’ - ‘err, let me see … hmmm’.

I feel sorry for the blackout person, and the general fear and anxiety, but to be honest, this silly lot had it coming. One way or another.

And $1.50 to the Red Cross - aren’t the tickets $10,000? My cup doth run over with tears.

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I agree, but a major part of the con was that this was a type of all-inclusive Disneyland, an exclusive private luxury island where they’d have all their needs seen to as VIPs. This kind of con is specifically designed to take in people who are as stupid and careless and entitled as you describe – the guy who left his passport and wallet in his tent comes to mind (and yes, a lot of these people think reality TV is real and emulate the consumer lifestyles you see on them).

Now if the organisers had been competent con men, this might have just ended with some spoiled rich idiots complaining that it wasn’t the exclusive event VIP they’d been promised and they’d be getting zero sympathy from anyone. But these organisers were so incompetent that the suckers were placed in a truly dangerous situation (fighting for food and water, fending off thieves, etc.), which forces me to have some small degree of sympathy for the victims of this scam despite their also being unbelievably stupid for buying tickets in the first place.

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Not to jump on the “no pity” train, but I sure hope that the aforementioned feral dogs are doing ok, and didn’t ingest anything that will cause problems later…

From a consumer point of view, the con-men who set this thing up should be drawn and quartered… legally and financially of course.

And to be perfectly honest, I’m in agreement with everyone who seems to have little sympathy for “spoiled” wannabe Kardashian types, but also in agreement that it’s not even remotely cool to drop your customers in a situation that was known to be, or predictably dangerous. The fact that I have little respect for the lifestyle aspirations of these folks doesn’t change that they got unfairly scammed and thrust into a potentially dangerous situation.

Yeah, if this had been a misrepresented “mountain man rendevous” or a gathering for ex military etc… it probably wouldn’t have turned into such a shit show so quickly, but I imagine that celebrity/model chasing well heeled festival attendees are not exactly super well equipped to handle survival type situations, particularly when they’ve been led to believe that their every need/whim will be catered to.

And… Question: If it’s on the same island as a “Sandals” resort, I’d have to imagine that the easiest thing would be to waltz over there, ask to speak to a manager, put him on the phone with rich Dad etc… and arrange to have a suite with real luxury for an indefinite period until you can be extracted from said island. Money talks. Or maybe these people truly aren’t the monied class, and just people who ponied up a lot of $$$ to play it for a weekend or whatever.

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The Sandals resort and all hotels in the area had been booked for months due to the local regatta, the biggest event of the year. Zero facilities available.

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Yeah… I’m betting that if you have enough money, and can say “here’s my american express centurion card, put whatever you need on it to find me a room. Also, buy yourself something nice.” magically a room would appear.

Similarly, I have to imagine that having a Sandals manager help arrange for say 10K of pocket change to be transferred at a local bank could find you a nice house to rent from someone who worked at the resort even if no rooms could be freed up (i.e. have the plebs kicked out).

The sad truth is that enough $ talks.

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If organizer Billy McFarland was really telling his friends not to come because it would be dangerous, then he belongs in jail.

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Those tents look pretty nice, to me…and the salad had dressing? Come on, now…

I have attended Burning Man with less luxurious accommodations…$12k sounds about right…

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That’s off sides.

Actually, what really kills me about that joke is that I can’t tell it to my son right this minute because it’s a spoiler. He also has no idea why I say “sucks to your ass-mar” every time someone says the word asthma.

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I am fascinated by the whole thing. There is now a site where ticket-holders can request a refund. Alternately, they can choose to accept a sort of IOU of two tickets to Fyre Festival 2018 for every one ticket they purchased to Fyre Festival 2017.

My guess is that there will be some kind of Fyre Festival 2018, but probably with different organization from the top down. McFarland and Ja Rule will have to hand this off to someone else in order for anyone in the industry to work with them.

In any case, McFarland’s real gold mine is the network of 400 social media influencers (called Fyre Starters). They’re basically a bot net and he can wield them like a hammer. For instance, look how many tickets they sold to an event that doesn’t even exist. Imagine the possibilities.

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Per the video, I take it this was a women-only event.

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That tweet was actually followed up on immediately. They meant to say “with NO dressing.” (Seriously.)

Maybe the dressing is where your point of view hinges. =o)

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So, I’ve taken a little time to think about this.

The organizers clearly fucked up on a “knew that they didn’t know what they were doing” level which means they are liable for damages. I don’t think there’s any argument there. People signed up for a luxury weekend and didn’t get anything near what they were promised- They got screwed and they’re entitled to some sort of recompense. Again, I don’t think that’s debatable.

But how sorry to feel for any of them- And I’m the first to admit that I’m a bit prejudiced against the trust fund crowd, so take that as you will- But what gets me are the hysterics. Here’s the thing:

They had food. Not the gourmet catering they’d been promised, but they had bread and cheese and something green. It’s as good or better than most school or prison lunches in this country, and there are a lot of people who would be grateful for half that. Objectively speaking, yes- It was crappy cheap food, but nobody was going to starve.

They had shelter. Again, not the luxury cabins they were promised, but those FEMA tents are still functional shelter. I’ve slept in worse more times than I can count. I have friends that slept in a hell of a lot worse for months during various Iraqi soirees. There’s a few million people in this country who don’t even have that. Also, it’s an island in the Bahamas, not the Sahara or Manitoba in February.

While it sounds like there were plenty of locals picking pockets and sneaking into tents, I don’t think any of them were about to go attempt any kind of violence against a large group of pissed off varsity athletes (you fucking know these instagram douchebags all lettered). I’m sure the islanders were all dark-skinned and scary looking, but it’s not like they were surrounded by ISL or Mexican drug cartel soldiers looking to get their rape & murder on. There’s a goddamned Sandals hosting a yacht regatta down the street.

Yeah, they got ripped off, and were in a tough spot- But they had food, shelter, working cellphones, and weren’t in immediate danger. You find yourself in that position, you have every right to be pissed- But if you start crying about how you’re starving and in fear for your life, it tells me that the worst thing you’ve ever experienced is being fed cold cheese sandwiches in a tent on a beach- And I know plenty of people who would trade places with you right there in a fucking heartbeat.

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They were instructed not to bring cash.

Unfortunately, festival-goers were unable to escape the unfolding disaster
because of their reliance upon Defendants for transportation, and because Defendants
promoted the festival as a “cashless” event—Defendants instructed attendees to
upload funds to a wristband for use at the festival rather than bringing any cash. As
such, Attendees were unable to purchase basic transportation on local taxis or busses, which accept only cash.

https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=3688226-Fyre-Fest-Lawsuit

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Seriously, would you go to an island without at least $100 cash? In case you need a drink at the airport?

Intstructed not to bring cash - sure, but why? 1) ‘They provide everything!’, 2) There would be a problem holding cash because … because … oh.

Whenever I’m told not to carry much cash, or rather, not to flash cash at all, it’s because the environment is dangerous, and desperate people will try to take it from you.

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