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Tag: Billy McFarland

  • Fyre Festival 2 Tickets Are on Sale — If You Dare | Entrepreneur

    Fyre Festival 2 Tickets Are on Sale — If You Dare | Entrepreneur

    The infamous failed Fyre Festival is giving it another go, and people are already lining up to see what’s in store this time around, according to the festival’s organizer, convicted fraudster Billy McFarland.

    Tickets for Fyre Festival 2 went live on Sunday, nearly six years after the notoriously unorganized and unlawful 2017 music festival landed founder Billy McFarland in jail for several fraud charges.

    “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seven-month stint in solitary confinement,” he said in a video shared to Instagram on Sunday. “I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen.”

    On Tuesday, McFarland claimed in an Instagram post that the first drop of Fyre Festival 2 tickets sold out, promising that this time will be different with the “best logistical and infrastructure partners.” Additionally, he said all ticket sale revenue will be held in escrow until a final concert date is announced.

    Fyre Festival 2 is scheduled to take place in December 2024 in the Caribbean (although an official location has yet to be revealed), with ticket prices ranging from $799 to $7,999, according to the festival’s website.

    RELATED: ‘Failure Is OK in Entrepreneurship’: Fyre Festival Fraudster Billy McFarland Throws Major Party After Prison Release

    McFarland was released from prison in May 2022. In April 2023, he announced that a Fyre Festival II was happening on X (then Twitter) with a contest on TikTok. It was supposed to take place on Aug. 26 in the Hamptons. Rumors spread that he rented a “pirate ship” for the event.

    But that event isn’t exactly happening as planned, either.

    Entrepreneur has viewed messages from McFarland sent last week to “FYRE VIPs” that the August Hamptons event is not taking place “due to [the] imminent announcement/plans for a much larger FYRE II.” However, there will still be a “private event” in the Hamptons on Saturday, the message says. And those who were scheduled to attend will get comped tickets for the big event in December.

    The original Fyre Festival was held on the island of Great Exuma in April 2017. It was promoted by models Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and the musician Ja Rule.

    But what was supposed to be a luxury concert costing thousands of dollars with meals from celebrity chefs, fancy housing accommodations, and performances by Tyga, Blink-182, and Migos ended up being a nightmare — with poorly built tents, cheese sandwiches for food, and immediate (and viral) videos showing conditions that led many of the promised performers to back out.

    Prosecutors found that McFarland defrauded Fyre Festival investors and ticket vendors of about $26 million. He also continued a “sham ticket scam” while out on bail, according to CNN. He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to several charges of fraud but was released after serving four years of his sentence.

    Following the Fyre Festival scandal, two documentaries were made about the ordeal, including Netflix’s 2019 “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” and Hulu’s 2019 “Fyre Fraud.”

    RELATED: ‘This Just Can’t Be for Real’: Fyre Festival Fraudster Billy McFarland is Now Hiring For His New Tech Company — And He’s Already Selling Merch

    Sam Silverman

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  • Fyre Fest II tickets are allegedly selling out — despite no lineup or venue – National | Globalnews.ca

    Fyre Fest II tickets are allegedly selling out — despite no lineup or venue – National | Globalnews.ca

    If FEMA tents and cold cheese sandwiches are your idea of fun, Fyre Festival II might be right up your alley.

    Billy McFarland, the fraudster creator of the infamous failed Fyre Festival, has announced he is already selling tickets to the event’s second try.

    Despite there being no official date, musical line-up or even a location — save for the fact Fyre Festival II will apparently take place “in the Caribbean” — the first 100 tickets have allegedly already sold out. The tickets were priced at US$499 (more than C$575) each. The event is expected to take place at “the end of 2024,” according to the festival’s website.

    In a video posted to social media on Sunday, McFarland said he developed a 50-page plan for the festival during a stint in solitary confinement. McFarland was placed in solitary confinement in 2020 after he participated in a podcast and discussed his crimes while in prison.

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    McFarland served nearly four years in prison on fraud-related charges to do with the initial Fyre Festival in 2017.

    “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seventh-month stint in solitary confinement,” McFarland said in the announcement. He appeared wearing AirPods and a white bathrobe in the close-up video.

    “I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take my ability bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen.”

    The Fyre Festival II website advertises six other upcoming ticket pre-sales, with prices ranging from US$799 (almost C$1,080) to US$7,999 (about C$10,845).

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    On Tuesday, McFarland claimed the first 100 Fyre Festival II tickets had been purchased.

    “FYRE is about people from the around the world coming together to pull off the impossible,” McFarland wrote. “This time we have incredible support. I’ll be doing what I love while working with the best logistical and infrastructure partners.”

    McFarland said all ticket sale revenue will be held in escrow until the date of Fyre Festival is announced.

    McFarland first announced the return of Fyre Festival in April, nearly one year after he was released from prison in May 2022. He was jailed after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to defrauding about 80 festival investors.

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    Originally marketed as a two-weekend-long luxury music festival on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas, Fyre Festival and McFarland were outed as frauds when festivalgoers were met with less than suitable conditions in 2017.

    Upon arrival, the 5,000 ticketholders were told all of the festival’s headlining musicians had already pulled out of the lineup. The gourmet food they’d been promised turned into below-subpar cheese sandwiches and the luxury accommodation was revealed to be FEMA disaster tents.


    A tweet showing the cheese sandwiches served to Fyre Festival attendees in 2017.

    Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection

    The festival was co-founded and marketed by rapper Ja Rule, who had influencers like Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Bieber promote the event. (Ja Rule later said he was also scammed by McFarland and was subsequently dismissed from a US$100-million class-action lawsuit.)

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    Click to play video: 'Fyre Festival descends into chaos, frustration, leaving rich festival-goers angry'


    Fyre Festival descends into chaos, frustration, leaving rich festival-goers angry




    As part of his 2018 prison sentence, McFarland was ordered to pay back the US$26 million he’d defrauded from investors.

    Both McFarland and Ja Rule have publicly apologized for the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival.

    On top of launching Fyre Festival II, McFarland also claimed to have a documentary and a Broadway musical about Fyre Festival currently in the works — exactly what everyone is clamouring for.

    Trending Now

    On social media, folks couldn’t resist poking fun at McFarland and Fyre Festival II, with many voicing warranted concerns that the second event could also be a scam.

    NBC News reporter Mike Sington said the launch of Fyre Festival II “just proves there’s a sucker born every minute.”

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    Click to play video: 'The lessons marketers are learning from the Fyre Festival fail'


    The lessons marketers are learning from the Fyre Festival fail




    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

    Sarah Do Couto

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  • Fyre Fest II is ‘finally happening,’ says Billy McFarland a year after his prison release – National | Globalnews.ca

    Fyre Fest II is ‘finally happening,’ says Billy McFarland a year after his prison release – National | Globalnews.ca

    It’s the sequel no one asked for: Fyre Festival II.

    Billy McFarland, the fraudster creator of the infamous failed Fyre Festival, is once again viral — this time for claims that a second Fyre Festival is currently in the works.

    “Fyre Festival II is finally happening,” McFarland wrote in a tweet on Sunday. “Tell me why you should be invited.”

    Read more:

    ‘Pure heaven’ — Hilary Swank welcomes twins, shares sweet Easter photo

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    McFarland, who was jailed after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to defrauding about 80 festival investors, did not provide additional information.

    Despite McFarland’s callout, which has been viewed 2.3 million times, social media users aren’t clamouring to be added to a guest list. Most replied to McFarland’s tweets with memes and skepticism, referencing the original festival’s lack of food and water and poor conditions.

    “Tell me why you shouldn’t be in jail,” one user replied.

    McFarland was released from prison in March 2022 after serving nearly four years of his six-year sentence.

    “It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working,” he wrote. “People aren’t getting paid back if i [sic] sit on the couch and watch tv.

    “And because i [sic] served my time.”

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    “I’ll show up with 100 crates full of bananas,” another Twitter user replied. “No one will go hungry this time around.”

    McFarland jokingly replied that he was “looping in” Andy King, a former Fyre Festival producer. King became a meme when he appeared in the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and said he had been willing to provide oral sex in exchange for water after customs seized Evian reserves en route to Fyre Festival in the Bahamas.

    Read more:

    Hugh Jackman reveals new cancer scare, urges people to stop tanning

    King even tweeted about Fyre Festival II himself, writing, “FYRE Festival 2.0. Who’s in?? Let’s go.”

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    It is not yet clear if King is involved in the Fyre Festival resurgence.

    Chris Bakke, founder of the tech firm Laskie, tweeted a screenshot of a direct message allegedly from McFarland.

    “Want to come to Fyre Fest II?” McFarland wrote to Bakke. “I mean sh—posters are the new supermodels. Want to join?”

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    McFarland replied to Bakke’s tweet, writing, “Going to crush the island version first, but @elonmusk Fyre 3 definitely needs to be in space.”

    Trending Now

    The first time around, the only thing Fyre Festival crushed was people’s spirits.

    Originally marketed as a two-weekend-long, luxury music festival on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas, Fyre Festival and McFarland were outed as frauds when festivalgoers were met with less than suitable conditions in 2017.


    Click to play video: 'Fyre Festival descends into chaos, frustration, leaving rich festival-goers angry'


    Fyre Festival descends into chaos, frustration, leaving rich festival-goers angry


    The 5,000 ticketholders were told all of the festival’s headlining musicians had already pulled out of the lineup. The gourmet food they’d been promised turned into below-subpar cheese sandwiches and the luxury accommodation was revealed to be FEMA disaster tents.

    The festival was co-founded and marketed by rapper Ja Rule, who had influencers like Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Bieber promote the event. (Ja Rule later said he was also scammed by McFarland and was subsequently dismissed from a US$100-million class-action lawsuit.)

    Story continues below advertisement

    Read more:

    ‘American Idol’ contestant quits show weeks after Katy Perry ‘mom-shaming’ comment

    As part of his 2018 prison sentence, McFarland was ordered to pay back the US$26 million he’d defrauded from investors.

    In March, McFarland tweeted about his plan to return the money.

    “Here’s how I’m going to pay it back: I spend half my time filming TV shows. The other half, I focus on what I’m really, really good at,” he wrote. “I’m the best at coming up with wild creative, getting talent together, and delivering the moment.”

    He attached his phone number and encouraged people to text him.

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    Since his prison release, McFarland has started a new Bahamas-based business, PYRT, pronounced “pirate.” In a November 2022 appearance on the Full Send podcast, McFarland said the company is “going to be a small, permanent hotel in the Bahamas for artists and entrepreneurs to come and partake in these crazy adventures.” One such crazy adventure is apparently a treasure hunt in which participants search for one of 99 bottles containing a secret message.

    In the same podcast appearance, McFarland also pitched a PYRT festival.

    “So, I have to do a PYRT fest, right? It can’t be tomorrow, it can’t be in four months, but there’s going to be PYRT fest,” he said.

    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

    Sarah Do Couto

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  • Fyre Festival Fraudster Billy McFarland Is Hiring For New Company

    Fyre Festival Fraudster Billy McFarland Is Hiring For New Company

    It was just five years ago that famed fraudster Billy McFarland was sentenced to prison for defrauding investors, customers and locals in the planning and attempted execution of Fyre Festival in Exuma, Bahamas.


    Getty Images

    But after serving time, McFarland is back (and in his own opinion, better than ever) and here to offer his services in his newest venture: a technology company called PYRT, which McFarland is calling the “virtual immersive decentralized reality.”

    He describes the technology as something “that brings together and connects people around the world both virtually and physically. Then once they’re together, it allows people to actually affect real-world change.”

    Related: ‘Failure Is OK in Entrepreneurship’: Fyre Festival Fraudster Billy McFarland Throws Major Party After Prison Release

    PYRT, pronounced pirate, will bring together groups of influential people (musicians, artists, content creators, entrepreneurs) and other investors in one real-world “small, remote location” and then a live, virtual replica of that location will be launched where anyone around the world can join in and participate (sort of like a metaverse/VR type location, though McFarland insists that the technology is not a metaverse.)

    @pyrtbilly For all of those that either love to hate or genuinely support me… THIS is what I’ve been working on. THIS is what will clear the air. THIS IS PYRT @PYRT ♬ Super Gremlin – Kodak Black

    Naturally, hundreds took to the comment section of McFarland’s (who now goes by @PYRTBilly) TikTok announcement to express their concerns.

    “Come on,” one user commented alongside a crying laughing emoji. “This just can’t be for real. Legend being straight out of prison and on to the next hustle.”

    “Billy I can’t possibly see how this could go wrong brother,” another joked.

    Others offered support and suggested that McFarland might be in pursuit of his “redemption arc.”

    Related: Creator of Doomed Fyre Festival Gets 6-Year Prison Sentence

    “I’m strangely rooting for you,” one said encouragingly. “Do not mess this up. You have 1 chance. Go crush it.”

    On Monday, McFarland announced that interested candidates could apply to work for the company to become a part of the ‘PYRT Crew’, one such position being an app developer which could indicate where McFarland sees this virtual platform eventually living in the future.

    @pyrtbilly

    Want to work with us? We’re hiring for PYRT, apply via BountyHunterWorld.com/pyrt for a chance to snag the job before the other Billy, Billy Football does

    ♬ original sound – Billy McFarland

    Though PYRT’s website is still in its development stages, McFarland has wasted no time beginning to sell merchandise for those he hopes to join his platform, in the form of a $249.00 PYRT Crew jacket.

    PYRT ‘crew’ members are promised “instant daily access to Billy and other PYRT crew” via the Discord app, “experimental adventures” like dinners, flights, trips, etc. and first access to the platform when it actually goes live.

    The former Fyre creator was originally sentenced to six years in prison in 2018 but ended up serving four years, plus six months of house arrest.

    Related: Anna Delvey to Star in Reality Show While on House Arrest

    In September of last year, he celebrated his release from his halfway house by throwing a cocktail party in New York City hotspot Marylou.

    He had hinted at a future in the tech space in an interview with the New York Times upon his release.

    “The good thing with tech is that people are so forward-thinking, and they’re more apt at taking risk,” he told the outlet. “If I worked in finance, I think it would be harder to get back. Tech is more open. And the way I failed is totally wrong, but in a certain sense, failure is OK in entrepreneurship.”

    McFarland is currently in the process of paying back fraud victims a combined $26 million in restitution.

    Emily Rella

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  • Government Officials Reject “Fugitive” Billy McFarland’s Plans to Return to The Bahamas – EDM.com

    Government Officials Reject “Fugitive” Billy McFarland’s Plans to Return to The Bahamas – EDM.com

    After Billy McFarland’s release from prison, the Bahamian government isn’t open to considering second chances for the disgraced Fyre Festival founder.

    McFarland wasted no time scheming his plan to return to The Bahamas. He recently took to TikTok to cryptically tease the details of a so-called scavenger hunt, “PYRT,” which rapidly morphed into the groundwork for a nebulous follow-up to 2017’s disastrous Fyre Festival on the island of Great Exuma.

    Cameron Sunkel

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