‘Fantasist’ promised music stars for festival that never happened

It boasted a line-up of bands together with The Killers, Pulp, Def Leppard, Moist Leg and The Libertines.

The 45,000 capability three-day occasion was attributable to be held this August financial institution vacation and was billed because the world’s first hydrogen-powered music competition.

However there was a snag: It was based mostly on lies.

A BBC Information investigation has uncovered how “fantasist” and convicted fraudster James Kenny deliberate a make-believe competition from his aged mum’s kitchen that pulled Glastonbury headliners, Hollywood stars and even a rustic’s authorities into its orbit.

After we tracked Mr Kenny down he insisted he supposed for the competition to go forward, including he was “actually sorry” to those that had misplaced cash.

Many we have spoken to say the competition business is brimming with characters like Mr Kenny, full of massive concepts and grand plans.

So when the bar supervisor who ran accommodations and a nightclub in Liverpool pitched a multi-million pound competition greater than Latitude, claiming funding from buyers such because the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon, John Vincent, business insiders thought he may simply have the ability to pull it off.

However as time went on, workers and suppliers who had been “100% satisfied” instructed us they then began to query if it was actual.

“It was a competition made from paper,” one former worker stated.

“Every thing form of unravelled and I realised it does not exist for anyone else however him.”

Some now imagine Mr Kenny by no means supposed for his bold competition to occur – deposits weren’t paid for bands, licence purposes have been by no means made and buyers he claimed to be speaking to say they’ve by no means heard of him.

So how did a competition constructed on lies get thus far?

Monmouth Rising was attributable to be held on a leafy showground outdoors the Welsh border city – an area extra used to internet hosting Saturday morning automotive boot gross sales than festivals with 5 phases.

Pageant literature boasted reasonably priced tickets, cashless funds and a “dedication to inclusivity” with no VIP areas.

At a packed city corridor assembly in February, the 47-year-old confirmed detailed website maps he claimed had been designed with the identical software program used to plan the Paris Olympics.

BBC Radio Wales would broadcast the competition stay and a cannon would even hearth bacon butties into the campsite within the mornings, or so he claimed.

He instructed potential workers that buyers included “one of many founders of Creamfields” and stated an financial impression evaluation from the Welsh authorities confirmed the competition would carry £28.9m into the world.

One business insider stated: “I’ve labored within the business for 20 years and it’s actually, actually extraordinary to do a competition that large for the primary time.”

The person, who provided companies for the competition and did not wish to be named for concern of lacking out on future jobs, added: “It is embarrassing [that I believed him], however on this business you need somebody to be a bit loopy.”

Staff and suppliers discuss of a secretive tradition Mr Kenny constructed up: Headline acts weren’t being introduced and no-one knew what number of tickets had been offered.

Music producer Chris Whitehouse was requested to signal a non-disclosure settlement earlier than his firm Audio Maze Ltd created a soundtrack for the competition’s advert to be “voiced” by Idris Elba, who would additionally DJ on the competition, alongside dance headliners Groove Armada and Whigfield.

However Chris stated issues did not add up.

“These guys apparently have an £8m price range to do that music competition and he appears to be like like he is simply walked out of Wetherspoons,” he stated.

Chris hasn’t been paid for his work and has issued court docket proceedings towards Mr Kenny for breach of contract.

Elba’s agent stated there was, “no report of Idris doing something for this man” and Groove Armada and Whigfield stated they have been by no means booked.

Genevieve Barker is without doubt one of the few individuals Mr Kenny let into these secretive conversations.

“He’d say ‘oh my gosh we have got this band, however do not inform anybody’,” she recalled.

Having hung out elevating her 5 kids, the advertising and marketing and occasions specialist from Hereford felt “lovebombed” into leaving her job to be head of partnerships for the competition.

“I might spent the most effective a part of 16 years elevating kids,” she stated.

“If you happen to’ve at all times been working half time or a stay-at-home father or mother, this was the profession transfer of a lifetime.”

She stated the “bigger than life” businessman provided her more cash than she’d ever made, in addition to a pension and personal dental and healthcare cowl for her household.

However after she began working for the competition, she stated it was, “like a poisonous relationship”.

She added: “He made us really feel actually particular, dangled a few carrots, however then remoted us. He by no means inspired us to speak as a gaggle until he was there.”

One other Monmouth Rising worker works for festivals over the summer time. As a part-time carer she stated she jumped on the probability for a longer-term gig working from residence.

She doesn’t wish to be named for concern of not getting work in a struggling business that’s “already tough for older ladies”.

She says {that a} 10-minute job interview noticed Mr Kenny run by means of “a great deal of bands that he was in talks with, so quick that I could not write them down. Then he stated sure to all the things I requested for”.

Varied suppliers additionally instructed us they supplied 1000’s of kilos price of labor and have been promised 1000’s extra in future.

The BBC has seen WhatsApp chats the place Monmouth Rising’s workers spoke excitedly concerning the plans.

However, out of the blue in late February, a brand new message appeared.

“The place is our pay?”

Staff had woken as much as discover they’d not acquired their first pay packet.

The competition’s web site was down and so they could not entry work emails. The Loyalty Co founder Adam Purslow stated his agency constructed the web site at a cut-price charge for his “serial entrepreneur” good friend Mr Kenny.

After quite a few requests for cost, Adam pulled the web site when his crew have been introduced with a “fishy” wanting doc as proof of incoming funding.

“All of the suppliers began to query how real that complete factor was,” he stated.

Staff like Genevieve had mortgages, lease and nursery payments to pay.

In response to her determined appeals, Mr Kenny despatched her movies, filmed in his mum’s residence the place he was residing, claiming he was “actually simply ready” for cash to return in.

BBC Wales has found this cash Mr Kenny was promising was a £90,000 money advance, often known as bill funding. However it was turned down as a result of it failed due diligence checks.

This was as a result of an bill from practice firm GWR, which Mr Kenny handed over as proof of incoming funds, was flagged as a possible forgery.

GWR stated it was unable to match the bill to its information and “instantly reported” its suspicions to British Transport Police.

It isn’t the one alleged solid doc Mr Kenny seems to have relied upon.

Mr Kenny beforehand tried and did not ship a city-wide cocktail competition and the same sample of guarantees and alleged forgeries adopted in its wake.

In 2021 he began working for Kate and James, a pair who ran a cocktail bar in Chester and did backstage catering for celebrity-packed occasions such because the Nationwide Tv Awards (NTAs).

The couple, who now stay in Morocco, stated Mr Kenny “at all times appreciated shiny issues” and was excited once they invited him to work on the NTAs, though “the truth is, it is arduous work and also you’re simply clearing up after well-known individuals, relatively than bizarre individuals”.

Kate stated Mr Kenny additionally instructed them he had dated a well-known actress and TV presenter after assembly her at a resort bar he ran in Liverpool, regardless of there being no suggestion he had.

“We then came upon he had been telling individuals he runs the NTA get together,” stated Kate.

“We felt sorry for him.”

Kate stated Mr Kenny at all times knew the “proper title to drop” and persuaded the couple to speculate with him in a brand new Liverpool Cocktail Week.

However his cash he promised wasn’t forthcoming and the occasion by no means occurred, leaving the couple £20,000 out of pocket.

In an try to elucidate the delay in paying up, Mr Kenny introduced the couple with a £40,000 mortgage settlement from Metro Financial institution.

A month later when that cash did not materialise, he shared a letter from the identical financial institution saying his account had been erroneously suspended for potential fraudulent exercise.

The mortgage provide had inexplicably risen to £75,000 and it referenced one other £35,000 from an investor in Malta.

The couple confronted Mr Kenny in a cellphone name, however stated he by no means paid them.

It wasn’t the final time Mr Kenny claimed funds have been coming from somebody in Malta.

When Mr Purslow requested for cost this yr, Mr Kenny despatched a screenshot, seen by the BBC, of a world cash switch for £200,000 from a financial institution in Malta, however the title was misspelled.

Once we requested the financial institution concerning the doc, it stated it was “not official”.

We additionally contacted the individuals Mr Kenny stated he had been chatting with about investing within the competition.

Mr Vincent stated he had by no means met him or invested any cash whereas two of the unique Creamfields founders and present homeowners all stated they’d by no means heard of him.

The Welsh authorities stated it had by no means achieved an financial impression evaluation.

The Killers and Def Leppard stated they’d by no means been requested to carry out. We now have but to listen to again from The Libertines, Moist Leg and Pulp. Different bands stated they’d been requested, however deposits have been by no means paid.

With six months to go till the competition, Monmouth Rising sinking.

Genevieve stated, with merchants asking for his or her a reimbursement, she felt “morally obliged” to problem Mr Kenny however he wouldn’t hear.

Then, on 6 March, he posted an open letter on social media cancelling the competition as a result of, he stated, it was “now not viable” however nonetheless hoped it will run in 2026.

He stated all ticket holders and distributors would obtain refunds however BBC Wales has been instructed solely 24 individuals had purchased tickets and all have been refunded as a result of their funds had been held by the ticketing firm.

Many merchants we spoke to stated they have been but to get their deposits again.

Monmouth Rising would have value tens of millions to drag off from a standing begin.

The corporate due to supply the competition with hydrogen energy stated it entered right into a business provide settlement however no work had been achieved. BBC Wales stated it had by no means been approached to broadcast from the competition.

We now have additionally discovered – removed from being software program used to plan the Paris Olympics – the location plan was drawn up utilizing a web-based app providing free trials.

Suppliers and workers, together with Mr Whitehouse, Mr Purslow and Ms Barker stated they have been 1000’s of kilos out of pocket and makes an attempt to start out authorized proceedings towards Mr Kenny stalled after he cancelled his cellphone quantity and moved addresses.

The girl who had the 10-minute interview stated she was left penniless and unable to say Common Credit score for months as a result of HMRC thought she had been paid.

We tracked down Mr Kenny on his new cellphone quantity so as to put these allegations to him.

He stated the line-up was actual and he spent a yr engaged on Monmouth Rising, including it was “the one factor I targeted on”.

He indicated he did pay some workers and stated those that misplaced cash might contact him immediately, including he has “by no means hidden away from something”.

He would not inform us the place he is now residing or reply our questions concerning the alleged forgeries, or the buyers he claimed he had, and requested us to electronic mail him with our questions as a substitute.

He did not reply to these questions intimately, however in a press release he stated his “sole motivation” was to create one thing significant and that it got here at private value to his well being and funds.

He stated it fell aside when he realised he would not have the ability to get permission for an occasion of that measurement at Monmouth Showground.

Monmouthshire council instructed us, within the 12 months he claimed he spent planning the competition, he solely had one assembly with them.

He added that he was actually repentant, promising on to these affected: “I’ll repay you.”

Questions at the moment are being requested about how this was in a position to progress so far as it did.

James Kenny is a named director of dozens of small corporations below totally different variations of his title, leaving £27,000 in unpaid County Court Judgements behind him.

In 2008, he was convicted of two counts of fraud for forging his spouse’s signature to acquire a mortgage cost to clear £15,000 price of money owed.

No-one can know what motivated Mr Kenny to construct a competition based mostly on lies, however only a few of these we’ve spoken to imagine Monmouth Rising would ever have labored.

Genevieve, who continues to be owed £5,000 and now has one other job, stated she thinks Mr Kenny is “a fantasist and a narcissist”.

“I imply, this was meant to be a multi-million pound occasion and he arrange his workplace at his mom’s kitchen desk,” she stated.

“He fooled all of us.”

Further reporting by Charlie O’Keeffe