According to VICE News, 26-year-old Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has been found guilty of multiple counts of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Buchwald noted that ” based on all the submissions that the defendant is a serial fraudster and that to date his fraud like a circle has no ending.”
McFarland and rapper JaRule conceived Fyre Festival as a spring 2017 destination music festival featuring Blink 182, Disclosure and more. However, the event quickly wen awry when music lovers arrived to the event’s Bahamas location to find no music, limited food and even less shelter.
“The remorse I feel is crushing,” McFarland said to the New York district courtoom. “I lived every day with the weight of knowing that I literally destroyed the lives of my friends and family.”
In addition to his failures at the Fyre Festival, McFarland started a scheme called NYC VIP Access while out on bail. According to VICE, NYC VIP Access claimed to “offer people access to high-profile events like the Met Gala, the Grammys, and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, when in fact he had no tickets or access to offer.” McFarland argued that he started the second criminal enterprise to cover his net loss on the Fyre Festival.
Two Fyre Festival attendees also recently won a $5 million lawsuit filed against McFarland.
3 Comments comments associated with this post
TCinNYC
October 11, 2018 at 3:46 pmHe should be sentenced to attend one of his own festivals. That’s hard time.
Bahama Mama
October 11, 2018 at 3:16 pmthe Poster sure looked soothing and enticing though.
jaggerrich
October 11, 2018 at 3:15 pmFor all the $happy haters, (and NOT that I am a lover of his, by no means, but) it just goes to show you, as I have said before: Promoting, and management isn’t always easy as it would seem,……nor is it a free license to print money. What a weird story this has been. The other side of the coin is: What idiot would travel far and wide for a “Blink 182, Disclosure, and more” festival? hyuk yuk yuk nuk-a-luk … maybe Avril LaVigne, and the one dude from ‘Real Estate’??? 8>)