CHEESED OFF
$300K fine for pizza-fest ‘fraud’
The organizer of the “Fyre Festival of Pizza” — who burned attendees by charging $75 for tiny slices of pie — has been banned from organizing festivals in New York and must pay more than $300,000 in restitution, according to officials.
Ishmael Osekre was accused of scamming thousands of people into buying tickets for 2016’s New York City African Food Festival and 2017’s New York City Pizza and Burger Festivals — and then never delivering on the promised entertainment and grub, the state Attorney General’s Office said Thursday.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Francois Rivera last month signed a court order banning Osekre from any involvement in events and festivals in New York and ordered him to pay $311,398 in restitution and penalties — with $111,198 going to duped customers and $150,000 going to the state, the AG said.
Osekre must put down a $500,000 bond — and repay the restitution and penalties in full — if he wants to participate in organizing any future events.
“Ishmael Osekre’s fraudulent schemes were an epic recipe for disaster that scammed New Yorkers out of their time and money,”
AG Letitia James said in a prepared statement. “Today’s order bans this shameless individual from ever carrying out this type of illegal business in our state.”
Attendees of the pizza and burger events held in Brooklyn on Sept. 9, 2017, complained of receiving only “tiny little slivers of pizza” after shelling out $55 to $75 for tickets that they bought on Web sites including EventBrite and GoldStar. They also said that there were no burgers at all at the event.
The AG’s office said that customers bought the tickets — which included VIP packages, drinks, games and other entertainment — believing false online ads that touted unlimited food samples.
Then-AG Eric Schneiderman opened up an investigation over the botched events in October 2017 following outrage on social media and complaints to the office.
Days later, Osekre promised refunds to all event-goers.
He allegedly carried out a similar scheme the previous year with the African Food Festival, where $100,000 worth of tickets were sold. Osekre allegedly kept all the money for himself rather than holding the event.
Osekre didn’t immediately return a request for comment.