Perhaps the organizers of the disaster known as the Fyre Festival should have booked Steely Dan to play the main stage, considering the accusations of a royal scam being hurled against them by the people who bought tickets.
Consider some of the charges leveled against the promoters by Daniel Jung, who said in court papers filed Sunday that he bought a ticket and airfare to the festival that cost him $2,000:
- The promoters, Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, “were knowingly lying about the festival’s accommodations and safety, and continued to promote the event and sell ticket packages.”
- “The festival was even promoted as being on a ‘private island’ once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar—the island isn’t private, as there is a ‘Sandals’ resort down the road, and Pablo Escobar never owned the island.”
We just filed Federal Class Action against Fyre Media for festival of horror. Refunding ticket price is not enough! @markgeragos pic.twitter.com/5CsNtQ6yjh
— Ben Meiselas (@meiselasb) May 1, 2017
- The promoters “began personally reaching out to performers and celebrities in advance of the festival and warned them not to attend—acknowledging the fact that the festival was outrageously under-equipped and potentially dangerous for anyone in attendance.”
- The promoters “refused to warn attendees about the dangerous conditions awaiting them on the island. [They] only ‘cancelled’ the event on the morning of the first day—after thousands of attendees had already arrived and were stranded, without food, water, or shelter.”
- The promoters “represented, among other things, that (1) this event would take place on a private island; (2) the island was previously owned by infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar; (3) all food would be provided, including five-star cuisine; (4) the living quarters would be fully furnished; (5) guests would take private jets from Miami to the festival; and (6) the event would be attended by celebrities and top-level musical talent… all of the representations made by [the promoters] proved to be completely false.”
- While [Jung] “is aware that [the promoters] have made overtures regarding refunds, Class Members’ damages in being lured to a deserted island and left to fend for themselves—a situation tantamount to false imprisonment—exceed the face value of their ticket packages by many orders of magnitude.”
Jung is asking the court to certify the lawsuit as a class action. The promoters have until May 22 to answer.