Fyre Festival Reportedly Being Investigated by FBI for Fraud

BY Alex HudsonPublished May 22, 2017

By now, we all know about the disastrous implosion of Fyre Festival, the Bahamian luxury festival that turned into a schadenfreude-fuelled meme last month. In the aftermath of the event's cancellation, co-organizer Ja Rule insisted that the Fyre Festival was "NOT A SCAM." Evidently, he may now have to prove this to the authorities, since the FBI is reportedly investigating the organizers for fraud.

This news comes via a source for the New York Times, which reports that Fyre Festival is being investigated for "possible mail, wire and securities fraud." This inquiry is being headed up by the FBI, in addition to the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. These investigators haven't yet released an official statement on the matter.

Meanwhile, Fyre Festival is still facing numerous lawsuits from attendees (while the folks at Fyre have threatened to retaliate with lawsuits of their own). One of the lawsuits accused Fyre of failing to comply with FTC standards when getting social media stars to promote the event.

Luckily, Fyre Fest ticket holders — plus those who had tickets to the now-cancelled Pemberton Music Festival — can get free admission to Ontario's WayHome, so maybe there's a silver lining in all this.

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