Billy McFarland | |
|---|---|
.jpg) McFarland in 2014 | |
| Born | William Zervakos McFarland December 11, 1991 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Fyre Festival |
| Title | Founder and CEO of Fyre Media |
| Criminal status | Released (September 2022) |
| Criminal charge | Mail and wire fraud |
| Penalty | Six years imprisonment (less than four years served), $26 million in restitution |
William Zervakos McFarland (born December 11, 1991) is an American businessman whose enterprises have been characterized by fraud. He has served time in prison for financial crimes related to Fyre Festival, having defrauded investors of $27.4 million.[1] Vanity Fair describes him as "the poster boy for millennial scamming".[2]
In 2013, McFarland founded Magnises, a card-based club targeted at millennials, using $1.5 million of investor funding. He later founded and was CEO of Fyre Media, which developed the Fyre mobile app for booking music talent. In late 2016, along with rapper Ja Rule, McFarland co-founded the Fyre Festival, a "luxury" music festival intended to promote the Fyre app. The event was scheduled to take place in April and May 2017, but was aborted – after attendees had arrived – due to problems with security, food, logistics, understaffing, accommodation, and talent relations.
In May 2017, McFarland and Ja Rule were sued for $100 million in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Fyre Festival attendees. The following month, McFarland was arrested and charged with wire fraud in Manhattan federal court for his role in the organization of the festival.[3][4][5] After pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March 2018, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He was released in late March 2022 after serving less than four years.
- ^ Larson, Erik (October 12, 2018). "Fyre Festival Fraudster Who Targeted Status Seekers Gets 6 Years". Bloomberg.
- ^ "Billy McFarland Is Sorry—Really. He's Also Got a New Pitch for You". Vanity Fair. December 21, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ "Indictment and Complaint". Docket Alarm. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
- ^ Bluestone, Gabrielle (April 29, 2017). "A National Punchline". Vice. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ Stone, Madeline (April 28, 2017). "The organizer of the doomed Fyre festival was previously accused of scamming millennials with promises of Hamilton tickets and trips to Cuba". Business Insider. Retrieved April 28, 2017.