Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland opens up about his ‘biggest regret’ after serving prison time and how much money he owes
AFTER serving four years in prison, convicted fraudster Billy McFarland has opened up about his regrets and current debts.
McFarland, 30, is best known for co-founding the 2017 Fyre Festival, which saw him scam investors out of $26million.
The infamous festival was notably hyped up by celebrities and supermodels and compared to the likes of Coachella.
However, the event didn’t pan out as expected — and in July 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to a ticket scheme and wire fraud charges related to the festival.
After serving four years behind bars, McFarland became a free man on May 18, 2022.
His freedom followed a failed attempt at early release from jail in April 2020, which he sought due to pre-existing conditions that he claimed made him particularly vulnerable to catching and suffering severe or fatal consequences of Covid-19.
McFarland is now detailing his excitement about his new venture called PYRT, pronounced “pirate,” and his biggest regret of his past — violating trust.
“On February 27, we’re launching our next product. So a couple of weeks away. We just got our first officer hired,” McFarland said in an exclusive interview.
When asked what is happening in March, McFarland explained that he’s moved on to a dating venture.
“This little dating thing that we just built. So, we come out here in the park and ask people to describe their ideal boyfriend or girlfriend and we’ll generate an AI picture of them, and we find five real people that match the AI.
“There’s a whole big campaign and we did a couple of podcasts and like announced that we’re doing it.”
McFarland didn’t hesitate when asked about his debts and life after prison, and how he’s making money again as a “marketing guy.”
He offers consulting and advice to tech entrepreneurs at a rate of $1,800 per hour, according to the New York Post.
“So a bunch of like venture funds and startups are trying to figure out how to launch their products. So I’m just doing this consulting work to fund PYRT,” he said.
“I’m going to be washing the docks for the first time and live streaming that soon so it’ll be fun.
“And I’m partnering with a hospitality company, doing a grilled cheese pop-up. So I’ll be cooking some sandwiches off in the Bahamas.”
When asked when he’s headed back to the Bahamas, he said: “I gotta pay them back first.
“So I’m trying to get them paid back in the next couple of months. Like once they’re paid back, we’ll talk and set a day.”
McFarland went on to say that there were plenty of people in the industry who contacted him following his fraud conviction.
“Just like crazy like tech CEOs. And they’re like, ‘We get it, like we understand you messed up. And like that’s f**ked but we’ll give you a chance.’ So like super smart people just like building wild platforms.”
The disgraced event planner appears to have a new agenda when it comes to life after prison.
When asked what else he’s working on other than PYRT, he said: “So basically everything is all about this theme of how can we help people turn like the impossible into reality?
“And everything through PYRT is built on that theme and they have a couple of subprojects that go along the way too.”
He was honest when asked about his financial situation, and how much of his pay goes to the government for restitution.
“A lot of it, part Bahamas and part restitution,” he said.
“I’ve made my 15th restitution payment today since August 30th. So it’s like every two to three weeks I go and make a payment.”
He said he’s still living in Brooklyn and doing the best he can to pay bills and live life while paying back his dues.
When asked what his biggest regret was, McFarland said: “The dozen or so people who backed me since I was 19 and just violating their trust.
“And when I called them to back Fyre, they were in no position to question me.
“When I promised them it’ll go well. And that was the most f**ked up part of all of this. I gotta pay those people back in every sense of the way.”
When it comes to him being monitored by the government, McFarland said he hasn’t left New York after his release – aside from a trip to New Jersey.
“I went to Jersey one time and then like I haven’t gotten permission to leave otherwise.
“I need permission to go anywhere, but yeah hopefully soon.”
FESTIVAL CON
McFarland made his name as a young entrepreneur in 2013 after founding a card-based social club named Magnises using $1.5million of investor funding.
Alongside rapper Ja Rule, he set up Fyre Media, which led to the creation of Fyre Festival.
Fyre Media claimed to be worth $90million in a term sheet sent to investors, although it had only done $60,000 in business.
In 2017, Fyre Festival promised a luxury VIP experience akin to other major festivals but customers who bought tickets did not receive what had been promised.
Some people paid $12,000 only to show up in the Bahamas and find a haphazard collection of tents and mattresses.
Luxury meals that were supposed to be part of the event ended up being cheese sandwiches served in a box.
Ultimately, McFarland pleaded guilty to wire-fraud charges pertaining to Fyre Festival, along with a $100,000 fake ticket scheme for events like Coachella and the Met Gala.
He reportedly sold those tickets through his company called NYC VIP Access.
McFarland was also convicted of defrauding festival investors and customers out of $26million, which he now owes back in restitution, per NME.
During his trial in 2018, a judge described him as “a serial fraudster” who had been dishonest for “most of his life.”
“McFarland found out the hard way that empty promises don’t lead to jet-setting, champagne, and extravagant parties – they lead to federal prison,” Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for Manhattan, said at the 30-year-old’s hearing.
PUBLIC APOLOGY
In November 2022, six months after his release, McFarland appeared on Good Morning America to apologize for his role in the infamous music festival.
“I need to apologize. And that is the first and the last thing that needs to be done,” McFarland said on the show.
“I let people down. I let down employees. I let down their families. I let down investors. So I need to apologize. I’m wrong and it’s bad.”
He continued: “I was wrong. I messed up. And I was so driven by this desperate desire to prove people right … I think I was just so insecure that I thought the only way to prove myself to them was to succeed.
“That led me down just this terrible path of bad decisions.”
OLD HABITS?
Some experts remain skeptical about McFarland’s new venture PYRT.
It launched one month before his November apology and again promises an island getaway to the Bahamas, per NBC News.
However, this time the event can reportedly be enacted through virtual reality — and it isn’t a festival.
PYRT once again features promotion from influencers and creators and will supposedly allow some customers to control what happens on a remote island in real-time through virtual reality tech, while some are actually in the physical location.
“Billy’s still Billy. He’s using different words, but he’s selling the same thing,” former product designer at Fyre Media, Shiyuan Deng, told the news outlet.
Another anonymous former employee noted: “The similarities are there around the vague mysterious promotion.”
“PYRT appears to be an exercise in smoke and mirrors, buzzwords and empty promises of lavish trips to the Bahamas.”
They continued: “As a previous employee who trusted Billy’s leadership in the past, new customers, investors, and employees should all proceed with caution.”
Only time will tell what comes of McFarland’s new venture.
For related content, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of an urgent warning about a scam coming from a popular bank’s telephone number.