If you thought the Fyre Festival fiasco was over after all the shenanigans, the hilarious tweets and the various lawsuits, well you’re in for a surprise tonight, pal. Late Friday night word broke that Fyre Media CEO Billy McFarland was arrested on, you guessed it, fraud charges and now faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that McFarland is accused of providing false financial information to at least two investors who invested upwards of $1.2 million toward the Fyre Fest. McFarland is accused of doctoring brokerage statements to show he owned $2.5 million in shares of a certain stock to prove to investors that he could pay back a loan, when he actually only owned about $1,500 worth. He also allegedly provided phony documents claiming he’d already secured millions of dollars in revenue and booked thousands of artists for the festival when he had only secured $60,000 for just 60 bookings.
This is not the only lawsuit to plague the festival since it was infamously cancelled and outed as a fraud. Several of the fans who purchased tickets have sued and both McFarland and co-founder Ja Rule issued public apologies in light of all of the events surrounding the ill-fated festival.
