20 Feb spectacular idea, CRIMINAL businesses- ARD 406

1. Fyre Festival- Festival, which since the announcement began to earn millions, but never took place

Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival founded by Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc, and rapper Ja Rule. It was created with the intent of promoting the company’s Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma. Promotional footage with hired supermodels was shot on Norman’s Cay, and planning for the festival went ahead. In early 2017, after a promotional video was released on social media advertising Norman’s Cay as “once owned by Pablo Escobar”, the owners immediately canceled the arrangement with McFarland. In reality, Pablo Escobar never owned Norman’s Cay. When they were kicked off of Norman’s Cay, they only had four months before their inaugural festival on April 28-30th. Scheduled for two weekends in April and May 2017, the event sold day tickets from US$500 to US$1,500, and VIP packages including airfare and luxury tent accommodation for US$12,000. Customers were promised accommodation in “modern, eco-friendly, geodesic domes” and meals from celebrity chefs. The final advertised lineup was for 33 groups, including Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Rae Sremmurd, Kaytranada, Lil Yachty, Matoma, Klingande, Skepta, Claptone, Le Youth, Tensnake, Blond: ish, and Lee Burridge. In the days leading up to the festival, all of the aforementioned acts pulled out, with Major Lazer never confirming their attendance despite being advertised. To make matters worse, organizers of the Fyre Festival planned their first event for April 28-30th, the same weekend as the Exuma Regatta, a Bahamian sailing race series that utilized all of the island’s hotels, vacation rentals, and resources. On the mainland, 5,000 tickets had been sold, and air service was hired to charter festival-goers from Miami. A medical-services company and caterer were also hired, but the latter withdrew a few weeks before the festival. With only two weeks to go, a new catering service with a $1 million total budget was hired, drastically reduced from the $6 million originally allocated to provide for what was promised as “uniquely authentic island cuisine…local seafood, Bahamian-style sushi, and even a pig roast.