Fyre Co-Founder Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud

As you may know by now, earlier this year, the Fyre Festival was canceled at the last minute after it turned out that the island hosting the event was wildly unprepared and most of the bands playing had not gotten paid. Attendees were literally air lifted off the island in an evacuation once it became apparent that the whole thing was a debacle. Several months ago, Fyre co-founder Billy McFarland was arrested and charged with wire fraud and intentionally making false statements to banks (which resulted in a $3 million loan).
Yesterday, McFarland appeared in a Manhattan Federal court and pled not guilty. The 25 year old wave indictment, which means the charges skip the grand jury stage and proceed directly to the criminal trial stage. The government has two weeks to present discovery to the defense and then the first pre-trial hearing follows on Dec. 13.