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Fyre Fraud

Knoxtnhorn

By Knoxtnhorn
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Doc Reeves

Doc Reeves 6,434

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

8/10 of the people featured in both docs are highly culpable.  basically I only pity the locals, and the stage production guys.  the rest of them claimed they saw the dumpster fire but went along for the ride.

 

that guy who was supposed to be the advising "adult" was the worst.  he's supposed to be the sensible one behind it and yet he behaved like an intern.

 

and Billy got his genius first idea for making a metal magnises card in 2012 or 2013?  Amex had been doing that for at least a decade and Chase was giving one to everybody on main Street for 5

Yep. 

Hes a con artist. And, by the way, not a very good one. 

He’s just a phony and able to fit in with all the other millennial phonies... in NYC, literally the easiest place in the world to gain access with a silver tongue.  

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52-80

52-80 19,262

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Posted
1 hour ago, Doc Reeves said:

Yep. 

Hes a con artist. And, by the way, not a very good one. 

He’s just a phony and able to fit in with all the other millennial phonies... in NYC, literally the easiest place in the world to gain access with a silver tongue.  

https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html

 

This one is a fun read

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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14,622

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Posted
On 1/22/2019 at 4:42 PM, henrygandorf said:

oh, and as far as the "i can't believe these people would buy tickets and spend all this money without some due diligence" - that's adorable.  we all have friends that believe what they want to believe.  and the more outlandish, the more they believe it.  when they hear about some crazy concert on some private island, they instantly believe it's real and it will be amazing.  give that person a little too much money, and here you are. 

the reality is that these people live in america, they haven't had to work hard for anything, rarely have they faced adversity, and cool shit happens around them all the time.  we're not conditioned to question everything around us or assume shit is a scam.  i didn't hear about the festival until shit went sideways, but if i had, i would've probably assumed it was some crazy-ass shit in the bahamas that was paid for and organized like other high end concert/festival experiences.  when you see a website selling tickets, you don't instantly see red flags.  it's a lot easier now to say, "of course it wasn't real, duh."

also as someone who had a boss who many believed "owned his own island", i would've assumed it was just some property near a beach, not some crazy small private island that barely had an air strip.  i'm shocked they were able to get so many people there without the ability to get them out of there.

oh, and i still don't understand his earlier credit card business.  what the f was that shit?

Scrolling this thread as we just finished both the Netflix and Hulu version and I wanted to single this post out.  This is what truly makes a lie believable.  People believe what they want to believe.  It is what has drive all the great scams from Madoff to Theranos to Donald Trump* to this Frye shit.  In every case, everything starts to unravel when you start asking simple questions.  Of course Aubrey McClendon was involved.

I mention Donald Trump but not to be political.  As we were watching the Hulu version, it occurred to me that McFarland was just like Donald Trump.  Promise big, borrow heavy, and it when it blows up, move on to something else.  He started with that credit card that I, like you, still don't understand.  That blew up and he moves on to Fyre and then moved on to the VIP thing.  Same scam, different details.

I recommend both versions for different reasons.  Netflix was about what happened and Hulu was about how it happened in relation to Millenials.  Say what you want about this McFarland guy but he seems to know exactly how to sell stuff to them.

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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14,622

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The Netflix version indicated that McFarland kept pressing the event because his investors were pressing him.  They were giving him the FUPM.

As to the Woodstock comparison, that's a very good comparison.  I don't believe Woodstock ever presented itself as some luxury festival.  The Fyre thing did and that goes to show how marketing types underestimate logistics and infrastructure.  Coachella works because it's in Palm Spring, Indio, and Palm Desert.  Lots of hotels, airports, restaurants, etc.  Thing like utilities, roads, and access are incredibly important.  They're unsexy but important.

I have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, as well as cable.  Does that make me a baller?

 

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trza-hawk

trza-hawk 269

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Thoughts on the Netflix doc:

This Billy guy hired one video production crew for the initial publicity video with all the models on the island, and asked them to film literally everything like the b-roll was going to be a gold mine for any after the fact video productions or maybe he was crazy enough to think that there would be an after-the-fact "Making Of..." type of doc some day. The editing for the promo video was done on the island even thought the internet access wasn't good enough to start the promotional campaign. The stuff after the festival, Billy hired another video outfit shooting him in the penthouse, and was asking one guy from the video crew some very specific questions about his time in prison. That footage was almost hard to believe they would let anyone shoot it, they are basically planning how to use their email list to scam the same people over again for NYC VIP ACCESS. Again, this was a full video and editing crew like they were planning to release some of the footage down the road for some reason. I am guessing that in the end neither film/video crew were paid for their services, and they probably had dozens or hundreds of hours of the guy with the big stomach just walking around bragging about selling people a fantasy of living the high life.

 

Was one of the talking heads a dj? I can't remember but I thought he said something about playing dance music when the festival attendees started to arrive? I am too lazy to go back and look it up.

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GHOSTUSER

GHOSTUSER 361

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On 1/21/2019 at 10:41 PM, Art Vandelay said:

I watched the Netflix doc first then the Hulu doc. Both were good but I thought Netflix was better overall and went into more detail on how it all unfolded. Hulu went more in-depth on millennials and social media culture, influencers, etc. If you're only going to watch one, I recommend the Netflix doc.

Completely agree with this. The Netflix one was much better as a documentary and in telling the story with the different people involved. Also, the Netflix one has a lot more video footage of the supermodels frolicking on the beach which looks stunning in 4K.

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Clintonaldo

Clintonaldo 2,576

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Scrolling this thread as we just finished both the Netflix and Hulu version and I wanted to single this post out.  This is what truly makes a lie believable.  People believe what they want to believe.  It is what has drive all the great scams from Madoff to Theranos to Donald Trump* to this Frye shit.  In every case, everything starts to unravel when you start asking simple questions.  Of course Aubrey McClendon was involved.

I mention Donald Trump but not to be political.  As we were watching the Hulu version, it occurred to me that McFarland was just like Donald Trump.  Promise big, borrow heavy, and it when it blows up, move on to something else.  He started with that credit card that I, like you, still don't understand.  That blew up and he moves on to Fyre and then moved on to the VIP thing.  Same scam, different details.

I recommend both versions for different reasons.  Netflix was about what happened and Hulu was about how it happened in relation to Millenials.  Say what you want about this McFarland guy but he seems to know exactly how to sell stuff to them.

You are so full of shit with your hatred of Trump. He is renting out your head for free. Leave your dumbass thoughts to the other forum please. 

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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14,622

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Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Clintonaldo said:

You are so full of shit with your hatred of Trump. He is renting out your head for free. Leave your dumbass thoughts to the other forum please. 

Oooh, that must have hit close to home.

It's the same thing, though.  People believe the lie because they want to believe the lie.  A millennial office worker wants to believe that he'll be on a beach with super models at some concert.  Coal miners want to believe that Trump is going to bring back coal jobs.  Same thing.

Edited by Aqua Buddha
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Goredho

Goredho 17,421

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On 1/27/2019 at 4:39 AM, 52-80 said:

8/10 of the people featured in both docs are highly culpable.  basically I only pity the locals, and the stage production guys.  the rest of them claimed they saw the dumpster fire but went along for the ride.

 

that guy who was supposed to be the advising "adult" was the worst.  he's supposed to be the sensible one behind it and yet he behaved like an intern.

 

and Billy got his genius first idea for making a metal magnises card in 2012 or 2013?  Amex had been doing that for at least a decade and Chase was giving one to everybody on main Street for 5

Billy assumed no financial risk of giving a line of credit and associated fancy looking card to a 20-something wannabe.  He simply gave them a fancy card attached to their existing lines of credit and threw parties where he got to be a rock star CEO that everyone wanted to be around.  Genius is too strong a word, but he did have an accurate intuition that such fake-ass shit that offered nothing but the augmentation of an image would be eagerly consumed by the hipsters of the world.

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naija

naija 2,869

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18 minutes ago, PilotsError said:

Just watched this.  The pilot who got fired seemed like a good dude, but no way in hell I let a new pilot turn off the engines and drop.  Jesus.

The water story....fuck.  Produced some damn good memes though.

but he trained on Microsoft Flight Simulator.

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19,431

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Posted
On 1/27/2019 at 10:08 PM, Clintonaldo said:

You are so full of shit with your hatred of Trump. He is renting out your head for free. Leave your dumbass thoughts to the other forum please. 

He may hate Trump, but I think the comparison is spot on for the reasons he mentioned. Charismatic grifter promises the moon, gambles big with other peoples money, and if it doesn't work out he walks away and leaves a path of destruction in his wake. Watch the Netflix special "The Confidence Man" and tell me you don't see the similarities...

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Kyle

Kyle 207

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On January 24, 2019 at 10:02 PM, futureman said:

which one is more truthful though?  should the financiers and marketing companies carry some of the blame?  

It sounded like the Netflix one was funded (partly) by the social media promotion company, which is likely why it goes so hard into him to deflect blame from anyone else involved. The Hulu one features the promotion leader from that company, apparently they have parted ways, which would explain why it puts more blame on others. 

Interesting question is how much culpability financiers, promotion partners, advertisers, etc., should face in these situations? Where is the line? Feels like those guys should have been pretty clear it was not going to work, which seems like a ethical point at which to say "we're out."

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Kyle

Kyle 207

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5 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

He may hate Trump, but I think the comparison is spot on for the reasons he mentioned. Charismatic grifter promises the moon, gambles big with other peoples money, and if it doesn't work out he walks away and leaves a path of destruction in his wake. Watch the Netflix special "The Confidence Man" and tell me you don't see the similarities...

In fairness, the comparison holds equally for the Clintons, Sandy Occassional-Cortex, Fauxchahontas, and almost every politician.

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Kyle

Kyle 207

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10 hours ago, satyanash said:

 

He seemed like the only genuine, likable player.

This episode really just reflects the current post-modernity view of “your truth.” It was not really a fraud, the festival was just Billy and Jeff’s “truth.” If they said it was a luxury festival who are we to judge and to disagree?

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PilotsError

PilotsError 2,324

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Complicit is not exact.  Complicit implies that they knew the entire thing was a scam to pay off Billy's other scams from the very beginning (assuming their stories were correct).  Most of them seemed to view it as an extremely aggressive project and didn't realize the scam until near the end.  Although, as intelligent as they probably are, they're not very smart.

I think even at when I was young I would never have let my employer use my personal fucking credit cards. 

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shakahorn

shakahorn 1,645

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Just finished the NetFlix version.  Here's what I don't get.  Correct me if I'm missing something.  The festival was conceived as a way to bolster the Fyre app.  (1) How much demand could you possibly get for the app?  How many folks need to book talent for corporate events, rich kids bday parties, whatever?  I've worked for companies in the past who needed talent for marketing events, and it was pretty easy to get a list of who was available and their price.  Actors, bands, comedians, whatever, I remember looking at a sheet once and for some reason, all I remember off the top of my head is that John Cleese was available for like $60k.  So how much money could you possibly make off the app?  A scrape off the performers fees and a few bucks for the user?

(2) How freaking hard could it possibly be to build this app?  $2m? Certainly less than $5m for a pretty polished product.  How was it possible to get so many investors to invest so much money?  Didn't any of them think...hey...it's $5m to build and maintain the app, and yet, in total, they claim to have raised upwards of $30m?

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52-80

52-80 19,262

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19 hours ago, PilotsError said:

Complicit is not exact.  Complicit implies that they knew the entire thing was a scam to pay off Billy's other scams from the very beginning (assuming their stories were correct).  Most of them seemed to view it as an extremely aggressive project and didn't realize the scam until near the end.  Although, as intelligent as they probably are, they're not very smart.

I think even at when I was young I would never have let my employer use my personal fucking credit cards. 

he wasn't brought on to this project alone.  he stated he had been billy's adviser for a while.  and admitted hes the only "real" (and actual) "adult" in the story.  between the millenial digital marketers, promoters and agencies, he really should have had full visibility into the entire ventire and been able to assess its feasibility, enough to pull the cord.

 

but what he actually did was stoop low enough to suck dick to help usher it along.  pathetic.

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Kyle

Kyle 207

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10 hours ago, shakahorn said:

Just finished the NetFlix version.  Here's what I don't get.  Correct me if I'm missing something.  The festival was conceived as a way to bolster the Fyre app.  (1) How much demand could you possibly get for the app?  How many folks need to book talent for corporate events, rich kids bday parties, whatever?  I've worked for companies in the past who needed talent for marketing events, and it was pretty easy to get a list of who was available and their price.  Actors, bands, comedians, whatever, I remember looking at a sheet once and for some reason, all I remember off the top of my head is that John Cleese was available for like $60k.  So how much money could you possibly make off the app?  A scrape off the performers fees and a few bucks for the user?

(2) How freaking hard could it possibly be to build this app?  $2m? Certainly less than $5m for a pretty polished product.  How was it possible to get so many investors to invest so much money?  Didn't any of them think...hey...it's $5m to build and maintain the app, and yet, in total, they claim to have raised upwards of $30m?

LOL. How many people fret about the look of their ATM card? Somehow this guy was able to get thousands of people to sign up for "Magnisis" based on a cool, metal ATM card ... Freaking Millennials. Having just finished "Bad Blood," I too continue to be amazed at how unsophisticated many of these VCs tend to be. I guess they're so busy with so much cash they just do not have time to really vet investments. It is all about selling. They bought this doofus just like they bought Holmes.

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Parliament

Parliament 14,333

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On 2/5/2019 at 9:45 AM, Kyle said:

LOL. How many people fret about the look of their ATM card? Somehow this guy was able to get thousands of people to sign up for "Magnisis" based on a cool, metal ATM card ... Freaking Millennials. Having just finished "Bad Blood," I too continue to be amazed at how unsophisticated many of these VCs tend to be. I guess they're so busy with so much cash they just do not have time to really vet investments. It is all about selling. They bought this doofus just like they bought Holmes.

Come on, now.  EVERY generation was ate up with idiots when they were in their 20's.  

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wild_turkey

wild_turkey 3,182

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How many people fret about the look of their ATM card? Somehow this guy was able to get thousands of people to sign up for "Magnisis" based on a cool, metal ATM card ... Freaking Millennials.


There’s tons to criticize about Billy and everyone involved with the Fyre Festival, but the Magnises card is pretty far down the list. It was advertised as more than just a “cool metal ATM card” because it offered access to exclusive events. People paid not just for a fancy looking card, but for the promise of party invites, restaurant access, concierge service, etc. I think the fee was $450.

You may attribute that to “freaking millennials” but every major credit card company employs this very same strategy for every demographic. There is a growing list of premium credit cards that offer these types of perks for a $450-550. The only difference is that Chase and Amex actually deliver what they promise whereas Billy McFarland did not.

The Magnises concept does not seem bad. The execution was horrible in typical Billy fashion.
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52-80

52-80 19,262

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9 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

 

. It was advertised as more than just a “cool metal ATM card” because it offered access to exclusive events. People paid not just for a fancy looking card, but for the promise of party invites, restaurant access, concierge service, etc. I think the fee was $450.
 

Those were necessary incentives (though also scammed!) to flesh out the idea.  As revealed by Billy himself in the docs, the actual idea had its genesis purely on his belief that having a metal card to show off was cool.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,457

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On 1/22/2019 at 3:58 PM, wild_turkey said:

The teenage version of myself paid to see them in 2001. I remember the restrooms and food being fine at the amphitheater.

I saw them then, too.  Green Day opened for them, which is what I actually paid to see.  How in the fuck did Green Day open for Blink 182?  Lots of people left after Green Day played.  I should have, because Blink 182 sucked.

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