PORTLAND, Ore.—The Fyre Festival achieved social media infamy when the luxury music festival in the Bahamas spectacularly failed to deliver on its promises. The festival was billed as a VIP experience, but patrons were greeted with half-assembled tents and a canceled performance from headline act Blink-182.
Business records show the company behind the festival, Fyre Media, has offices and employees in Portland. Employees at the Portland office say they’re now paying the price even though they weren’t directly involved with the disastrous festival.
Workers say they haven’t gotten a final paycheck, they’re out of a job and they’re scrambling to distance themselves from the company and its brash owner, 25-year-old Billy McFarland.
“Billy is a complete scam artist,” said a former Fyre employee from the Portland office, who requested anonymity while speaking with KGW.
Fyre Festival was sold on social media as luxury experience on a private island. But when thousands of ticket holders arrived in the Bahamas for the glitzy musical getaway, they found wet mattresses, portable toilets and unfinished tents.
McFarland and his company, Fyre Media, are now facing more than a dozen lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in damages. Federal investigators are also reportedly looking into possible fraud.
Records show McFarland registered Fyre Media Inc. as a corporation in Oregon in October 2016. The company’s main headquarters are in New York City.
McFarland hired MDavid Low of Portland as Fyre Media’s creative director. The two had previously worked together informally.
Low, known to co-workers as “MD,” recruited new employees and set up the company’s Portland operation inside a shared office space in Northwest Portland.
The seven employees in Portland were tasked with creating an app to book celebrity appearances, including musicians, models and pro athletes. Ja Rule, the rapper and company co-founder, was among the celebrities on the roster.
The Portland team had spent months building a platform for the new business-to-business app. They were just about to launch when disaster struck. The failed music festival, intended to promote the app, torpedoed the tech startup.
Facing angry customers, mounting bills and a growing number of lawsuits, McFarland told employees they wouldn’t be getting paid. An employee told KGW there hasn’t been money to cover payroll for the past two weeks.
The former Portland employee said bookkeeping problems were common at Fyre Media. Bosses didn’t ask for any paperwork or documentation when they were hired. The former employee was often paid via wire transfer and only got a pay stub once or twice.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry confirms two workers from Fyre Media have filed potential wage claims. The state agency anticipates opening a formal investigation soon.
A former employee said there were signs of trouble at Fyre Media from day one. The company lacked basic office supplies, including computers, Post-it notes, or eraser fluid for a white board. Often, new hires had to use their personal laptops.
In recent months, company credit cards were declined, according to an ex-Fyre staffer. In one case, a worker from Portland traveled to New York. The former employee said the corporate credit card used to book the room was rejected.
In retrospect, the ex-employee said the financial troubles in Portland didn’t seem to match with the lavish lifestyle of their boss, McFarland.
“We were in the dark,” said the former worker from the Portland office.
The employee said they didn’t know about the Fyre Festival until seeing a photo on Instagram. The post on social media showed McFarland, Ja Rule and another company executive from New York on a private jet.
“None of us had any idea that they were going to the Bahamas with models,” said the former employee.
The ex-employee said the idea of a luxury music festival made no business sense for the tech startup.
Almost all employees from the Portland office agreed to join their boss at Fyre Festival in late April.
The day they were to leave Miami for the Bahamas, one of the workers got a phone call. A voice whispered, “If you haven’t gotten on a plane, don’t come.” The person on the phone explained how the luxury music festival was turning into a disaster and there was nowhere for them to stay.
After returning home, the employees left the company and Fyre Media cleared out its Portland office.