Latest news with #Bahamas
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rights to Fyre Festival sell for $245K on eBay
The rights to the troubled Fyre Festival brand have sold for only $245,000 in an eBay auction. The sale included IP, brand trademarks and social media assets. The auction received a total of 175 bids with the final bid coming in early Tuesday afternoon. Organizer Billy McFarland announced he was selling the brand in April, roughly a week after Fyre Festival 2 was postponed indefinitely and refunds were issued. 'Damn. This sucks, it's so low,' McFarland said during a livestream of the auction after the bids went over $240,000. McFarland said a brand bought the rights, but did not disclose the mystery buyer. Fyre Fest became a world-wide sensation for all the wrong reasons after its disastrous 2017 debut. The music festival promised a luxury experience in the Bahamas featuring big-name bands and A-list attendees. Instead, groups like Blink-182 canceled and ticketholders were forced to stay in flimsy disaster relief tents and eat thrown-together cheese sandwiches. The fiasco inspired dueling streaming documentaries and a host of criminal cases. McFarland pleaded guilty to wire fraud and other federal charges related to the festival and was released early from prison in 2022. He resumed work on a second festival on a private island in Mexico, but that ultimately fell apart, too. 'After two years of rebuilding FYRE with honesty, creativity and relentless effort, it's time to pass the torch,' McFarland wrote at the time on the festival's Instagram account. McFarland, who owes $26 million, said proceeds from the auction would go toward restituation.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Police in Haiti seize a ton of cocaine in a boat raid that leaves 3 suspects dead
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Three suspected drug traffickers were killed in an exchange of fire as police in Haiti confiscated more than 2,300 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cocaine aboard a boat, officials said Tuesday, in a rare drug seizure in the troubled Caribbean country. The police raid took place off the coast of northern Haiti near Tortue Island where traffickers are suspected of transferring drugs, Port-de-Paix prosecutor Jeir Pierre told Radio Caraïbes on Tuesday. Pierre said police have long postponed any action at that location because of a lack of resources, but noted that a regional police director recently requested a boat to use around Tortue Island. 'We have had this area in our sights for a long time,' Pierre said. Police approached a suspected drug trafficking boat on Sunday and ordered the suspects aboard to raise their hands, but they did not comply and instead opened fire at the officers, Pierre said. Officers returned fire, with two suspected drug traffickers jumping into the ocean and later dying. A third suspected drug trafficker died on shore while a fourth one, from the Bahamas, was injured and later arrested, Pierre said. Police said on X that one of suspects who died was a man from Jamaica. Pierre said no Haitian police officers were injured. The U.S. government has previously noted that powerful people in Haiti are involved in the country's drug trade. In August 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned former Haitian President Michel Martelly, accusing him of abusing his influence to facilitate the trafficking of drugs, including cocaine, destined for the U.S. 'Many of Haiti's political and business elites have long been involved in drug trafficking and have been linked to the gangs responsible for the violence that has destabilized Haiti,' the Treasury Department said.
Entrepreneur
3 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Fyre Festival IP, Assets Sell on eBay for $250K: 'So Low'
Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland sold his brand's IP and assets. Here's how much the new owner paid. Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland, who was released from federal prison in 2022 after serving four years behind bars for crimes related to the event, watched his brand sell on eBay for $245,300. "Damn," McFarland said while streaming the bids. "This sucks, it's so low." Related: Fyre Festival Founder Puts Infamous Brand Up for Sale Bloomberg notes that the winning bid was only 0.9% of the $26 million McFarland has been ordered to pay in restitution. The sale, which lasted a week, includes rights to the IP, trademarks, and social media accounts. There were 175 bids in total from 42 bidders, with the final bid coming just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday. McFarland didn't disclose who the buyer was, but laughed when he saw the name, per NBC News. "It's funny," he said. After the infamous Fyre Festival disaster in the Bahamas in 2017, McFarland tried to revive the brand with the Fyre Fest 2, which was supposed to take place from May 30 to June 2 in Mexico, but was canceled in April (or never scheduled in the first place). Related: Fyre Festival 2 Has Been Postponed — Again "I'm sure many people think I'm crazy for doing this again. But I feel I'd be crazy not to do it again," McFarland said when sales started. McFarland tried to sell the brand through an email form with an offer sheet, before turning to eBay in July.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billy McFarland Sells Fyre Festival Brand on Ebay for $245,300
The long, pathetic, sordid, criminal saga of Billy McFarland and the Fyre Festival came to an ignominious end Tuesday afternoon at precisely 12:44:11 pm EST when the convicted fraudster unloaded the brand and all trademarks related to the ill-fated musical festival on eBay for $245,300. McFarland still owes $26 million in restitution related to his wire fraud conviction, so he's going to have to keep scrounging around to raise the remaining $25,754,700. More from Rolling Stone Billy McFarland Is Now Trying to Unload the Fyre Fest Brand on eBay Billy McFarland Is Looking for a Buyer Who Wants to Make Fyre Fest Their Problem Instead Fyre Fest 2 Postponed, Obviously For those of you with no memory of 2017 and somehow missed Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, the Fyre Festival was advertised as a luxury musical festival on an island in the Bahamas with lineup that included Blink-182, Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Major Lazer, Disclosure, and Migos. But when fans arrived at the festival site, they were greeted with little more than dinky tents, grounds that resembled a refugee camp, and cheese sandwiches. It turned out that McFarland and his investors, including rapper Ja Rule, didn't have the money, means, or experience to stage the event. A wave of lawsuits followed, and McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison. McFarland was released in 2022 and immediately started to plan a second Fyre Festival. 'We have the chance to embrace this storm and really steer our ship into all the chaos that has happened,' he told NBC. 'And if it's done well, I think Fyre has a chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry.' Unsurprisingly, McFarland had absolutely no ability to deliver on that promise. This time around, however, the plug was pulled long before any guests arrived. In the aftermath, he decided to cut his losses and forever part ways with the brand. 'This brand is bigger than any one person,' Mr. McFarland said in a statement on Instagram. 'It's clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward independently.' It's unclear who bought it, but they now own the Fyre Festival brand name, the social media accounts, 'comprehensive marketing assets,' the domain names, 'artist & talent relationships,' an 'extensive media coverage archive,' and 'access to the core team (optional).' This poses a few questions. First off, how exactly can 'artist and talent relationships' be sold? And weren't those relationships forever poisoned by the historic debacles of the past? It's hard to imagine that Blink-182's team sees this as a solid relationship. They won't exactly be like, 'A random person bought the Fyre Festival. We're obligated by the terms of an Ebay listing to work with them on their next endeavor, even though we were humiliated and stiffed out of money eight years ago by the original team.' Secondly, it's nice to see that access to McFarland and Ja Rule is optional, but is that really a selling point? They haven't proven themselves very adept at putting on this particular festival. Someone is going to give them a third attempt with their own money on the line? Finally, what exactly is this media archive? Is it linked to online articles documenting the collapse of the festival, the lawsuits that followed, and the pathetic attempt to stage a second one? Did they make a scrapbook of the print articles? These are assets? As we await answers, it's good to know that the Fyre Festival dream isn't dead. It's now in the hands of somebody else with $245,300 to spare. We look forward to seeing what they do with it. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Travel Weekly
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Travel Weekly
Margaritaville at Sea's third cruise ship will be named the Beachcomber
Margaritaville at Sea's third ship will be called the Beachcomber, the cruise line revealed Tuesday. The Beachcomber is currently sailing for Costa Cruises as the Costa Fortuna. Margaritaville at Sea announced in May that the Fortuna would become its third and largest ship, accommodating 2,702 passengers at double occupancy and 3,470 at full occupancy. Margaritaville at Sea CEO Christopher Ivy said at the time that he expected the ship to debut in late 2026 or early 2027. The Beachcomber will have 15 experiences that differentiate it from the Islander and Paradise. There will also be familiar favorites, including the 5 o'Clock Somewhere bar and grill, burger joint Cheeseburger in Paradise, the Hemisphere Dancer lounge and the License to Chill bar. "We drew inspiration from nostalgic beach scenes, vintage surf art, and the carefree escapism that defines the brand," said head of design Martha Brabham. "The result is a design that feels joyful and instantly familiar." The cruise line said the Beachcomber's homeport and itineraries will be revealed later this summer.
