49. Fyre Media Scam
Year: 2016
Approx. Amount: $27.4 million*
Company / Person Involved: Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland’s Fyre Fest is perhaps the most well-known scandal of the past few years, and it is the subject of not one, but two documentaries on Netflix and Hulu. Billy McFarland founded Fyre Media, which was supposed to host a luxury music festival that would promote the company’s talent-booking mobile app.
Fyre Media Scam @tusuvaikas / Pinterest.com
McFarland made $27.4 million from marketing and ticket sales, and then he abruptly aborted the ill-fated event after running into problems with logistics, food, security, staffing, and pretty much everything you could think of. McFarland was convicted of fraud in 2018 and sentenced to six years in federal prison for his role in the infamous scandal.