Some pop music fans in Montreal may have been tricked into buying passes for a fake festival with headliners Harry Styles, Doja Cat and SZA.
According to an Instagram account that launched last week, Festival Aurora was to run in Montreal’s Old Port from June 1 to 3, with passes ranging in price from $275 to $650 per day.
The line-up also included artists like Khalid, Troye Sivan, Charli XCX and Tyler, the Creator.
Festival Aurora was promoted by Groupe Cenari Inc., a company registered last year in Quebec. The listed CEO is Kyllian Mahieu, a former theatre production student.
Mahieu told iHeartRadio.ca on Friday that he walked away from Groupe Cenari on Jan. 27 after learning that his business partner Nathan Scuderi’s bank account was allegedly overdrawn.
Mahieu said he has retained a lawyer to get his name removed from the business. “I’m actually responsible for something I did not do,” he insisted, adding that he filed a complaint with Montreal police on Thursday.
Instagram / festivalauroramtl
Scuderi could not be reached for comment. La Presse reported that he has previously been accused of fraud and is known to police.
The Groupe Cenari website – at a domain registered last November by Mahieu – disappeared Friday morning.
There were plenty of clues that Festival Aurora was bogus. In addition to the exorbitant pricing (weekend passes cost between $950 and $1,625), the biggest site in the Old Port is occupied until Aug. 20 by Cirque du Soleil’s show ECHO.
Many of the listed artists are booked elsewhere on those dates (Styles performs June 1 and 2 in Paris and in Amsterdam on June 4) or aren’t touring this year.