Fyre sale: US marshals auction off seized merchandise from ill-fated festival
You’ve seen the Fyre Festival documentaries, read about the lawsuits, and laughed at the viral sandwich tweet – and now you can bid on the ill-fated event’s merchandise.
A selection of hats, sweatpants, T-shirts and tokens that were meant to be flogged to Fyre’s festival-goers are now available via an auction organized by the US marshals service, a government law enforcement agency.
not sure who needs to know this but the u.s. marshals are currently auctioning off fyre festival merch seized from billy mcfarland. let me put that another way. the government is selling fyre fest merch https://t.co/yiH0X5Vtnb pic.twitter.com/faHeH7viOl
— Jack Crosbie (@jscros) July 31, 2020
“This Fyre Festival-branded clothing and other items that were seized from [founder] 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,” said the US marshal Ralph Sozio.
“The proceeds from the sale of these items, all traceable to McFarland’s $26m fraud, will go toward the victims of his crimes.”
Related: Ja Rule cleared of wrongdoing over Fyre festival disaster
With the festival an infamous part of internet lore, the auction has attracted some high bids. At the time of writing, a baseball cap with the Fyre logo is at $115, while a black, long-sleeved T-shirt is going for $155. Although if you’re not looking to break the bank, a pair of black wristbands that come with the unwittingly prescient message “Conspiracy to change the entertainment industry” are currently going for $10.
Fyre Festival gained international attention in April 2017 after eye-opening footage started to emerge from the supposedly luxury event in the Bahamas. Attendees, who paid anywhere between $500 for a day ticket and $400,000 for a VIP group package, were promised plush accommodation, gourmet food and Blink 182. But they arrived on the island only to discover disaster relief tents, sandwiches that would go viral for how sad they were, and no Blink 182.
