Almost a month after its mesmerizing public flame-out, Fyre Festival is now under criminal investigation by the FBI. The New York Times reports that federal authorities are investigating possible mail, wire, and securities fraud, led by "a prosecutor assigned to the complex frauds and cybercrime unit."
Potential victims of the fraud include ticket buyers, investors, suppliers in the Bahamas, and even planned headline acts like Blink-182, who cancelled their appearance but still ended up with their equipment stuck in customs.
Billed as an exclusive, luxury festival spread over two weekends in the Bahamas, the Fyre Festival spiraled into well-documented disaster when attendees arrived in paradise to find it... unfinished, to say the least. As the Times puts it, reports of "panicked millennials scrounging for makeshift shelter on a dark beach" swiftly turned this into the greatest pop culture punchline of the year so far.
As of early May, when a whole host of lawsuits were the worst that Fyre was facing, co-founder Ja Rule seemed optimistic. "The whole world knows Fyre's name now," he reportedly said. "This will pass, guys." Yeah. Maybe hold off on handing out those free passes for 2018 though.
