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Seized Merchandise From Infamous Fyre Festival Goes Up For Auction, Including Official Hats And Joggers
The proceeds of the auction will be delivered to people defrauded by the infamous island party that wasn't.
Anyone hoping to own their own piece of Fyre Festival history now has a chance with a new auction of seized items from the fraudulent endeavor.
Registration and bidding is currently underway for the Fyre Festival-branded items through the Texas auction house Gaston & Sheehan. Lots for auction include Fyre "tokens" officially-branded hats and Fyre Festival clothing like jogger sweatpants and T-shirts.
A number of the lots are also bundled deals of multiple pairs of sweatpants, tokens and T-shirts, among other items. Though bidding for a number of the clothing items started around $15 to $20, many of the clothing items quickly jumped up in price, with a crew neck sweatshirt going for $155 as of Friday morning.
“This Fyre Festival-branded clothing and other items that were seized from Billy McFarland were originally intended to be sold at the Fyre Festival itself but were kept by McFarland, with the intent to sell the items and use the funds to commit further criminal acts while he was on pre-trial release,” U.S. Marshal Ralph Sozio said in a statement. “The proceeds from the sale of these items, all traceable to McFarland’s $26 million fraud, will go toward the victims of his crimes.”
Festival organizer Billy McFarland, 28, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018 for swindling investors out of millions of dollars through his infamous Fyre Festival.
The festival had advertised a luxurious, “transformative” experience at an island in the Bahamas once owned by Pablo Escobar and A-list musicians and performers for patrons willing to pay $450 for a ticket, according to The Washington Post. The reality was more of a disaster triage than a tropical party — attendees found only FEMA tents, half-built amenities, and little food or water with many of the performers backing out of performing.
The fiasco ultimately resulted in competing documentaries on Netflix and Hulu about the sordid project.
McFarland ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in 2018, admitting he had bilked investors out of $26 million, The Associated Press reported.
McFarland is currently incarcerated with a scheduled release date in 2023, according to the U.S. Marshals.
However, earlier this year McFarland was attempting to recruit investors for a project he claimed would help connect people during the coronavirus pandemic.
McFarland then claimed earlier this month he had contracted COVID-19 in prison.
