Fyre Festival Merchandise To Go Up For Auction
Would you bid for a piece of millennial history?
As the investigation of the now-infamous Fyre Festival continues, founder Billy McFarland has found a surprising way to foot the financial damages – by putting official merchandise up for auction.
A spokesperson for the United States Marshals Service told Vulture: “We have an assortment of the ‘real thing’ Fyre Festival-branded T-shirts, sweatpants, sweatshirts, hats, wristbands and medallions.”
“We know that there is tremendous interest in these items in the NY metro area in particular,” he continued.
Back in October 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for scamming revellers into footing a quarter of a million pounds per ticket for a festival supposed to take place on a private island in the Bahamas.
Fellow organiser Ja Rule helped McFarland build an influencer-studded marketing campaign with the likes of Instagram heavyweights – or “Fire Starters” as they became known – Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, drawing in thousands of likes.
But when festival-goers flocked to the Bahamas in the thousands, reality soon kicked in.
The Netflix documentary showed how guests arrived to find rain-soaked tents instead of luxury accommodation. The gourmet cuisine they were promised was mocked mercilessly online with nothing but soggy cheese sandwiches on offer.
Twitter account, @FyreFestivalFraud, promptly began to document the scam which was dubbed “The Hunger Games for Rich People”.
More deliberate lies by #fyrefestival. Fyre Festival makes it appear to be its own island…marketing says private island…it isn't! Scam. pic.twitter.com/E4Gz8o3X0z
— FyreFestivalFraud (@FyreFraud) April 20, 2017
The luxury festival tents are left over disaster relief shelters from @USAID Fyre Festival scammed us! https://t.co/kW4olVKgzY #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/8QYkQ3jIPR
— FyreFestivalFraud (@FyreFraud) April 25, 2017
Funds from the forthcoming auction will reportedly be split between festival attendees who come forward seeking financial reparations.
But according to prosecutors, McFarland will also take a cut “based on their respective losses”.
A date for the online auction has yet to be confirmed but the famous scandal is sure to draw in punters hoping to bag a slice of millennial history.