Fraudster Billy McFarland promises ‘Fyre Festival  II is coming’

Billy McFarland, creator of the infamous failed Fyre Festival, teased a possible second round of the shockingly disastrous event that landed him behind bars.

In 2017, McFarland was caught in the middle of a scandal in which ticket holders, who thought they were heading to a “luxury music festival” on Pablo Escobar’s former private island, were actually lured into a catastrophic event that was mired in trouble with everything. , from food to accommodation.

In the end, festivalgoers—who paid as much as $13,000 for luxury packages—were left with unfinished shelter, no transportation, and no food except cheese sandwiches served from polystyrene boxes, the footage of which quickly went viral.

A year later, McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison, in addition to being ordered to pay back approximately $26 million to his investors. He was released in March 2022.

On Sunday, McFarland tweeted, “Fyre Festival II is finally happening.”

Followers of the convicted businessman were quick to jump to the comments section, some curious about how to score an invite, others wondering why he’s not still in jail

There was a quick response to the shocking announcement. One fan replied, “I show up with 100 crates of bananas. This time no one will go hungry.’

“Just waiting for the documentary to continue,” wrote another. In 2019, two Fyre Festival documentaries were released about the event’s disastrous demise.

Join Circle CEO Satvik Sethi wrote, “If you need help planning, here’s a great documentary about it!”

When a user asked why McFarland isn’t still in jail, the former incarcerated businessman wrote, “It’s in the best interest of those I owe that I’m working.

“People don’t get refunded when I sit on the couch and watch TV. And because I served my time.’

McFarland asked his followers to tell him “why you should be invited” to the follow-up festival.

Last year, in his first interview since being released from prison, McFarland admitted he was “wrong” to go through with the doomed event.

“I was wrong,” McFarland said during an appearance on Good Morning America.

‘I ruined it. I was so driven by this desperate desire to make people right. I had these early investors, financiers, employees, and I think I was just so insecure that I thought the only way to prove myself to them was to succeed and that led me down this horrible path of bad decisions.

“I have to apologize and that’s the first and last thing to do. I’ve disappointed people… I really should have canceled everything and stopped lying.’ he said.

McFarland claims his time in prison — during which he was placed in solitary confinement several times as punishment for breaking the rules by conducting several interviews while behind bars — also gave him a new perspective on doing business.

“I used to take pride in getting things done and not how things were done,” he said. “I think the most important thing for me moving forward is building relationships throughout the process. Whether there’s success or failure in a business sense, it’s more about how it’s done rather than taking pride in this “anyway” idea being wrong.

McFarland famously used a spate of gorgeous Instagram models to promote the festival

Famous faces of Fyre Festival included Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber – several of whom were subpoenaed for their role in the scam

The gourmet meal kits offered to the festival’s guests, many of whom paid more than $1,000 for the retreat, were served barely passable food in the school cafeteria

Luxury accommodations turned out to be tents that looked like emergency shelters and barely held back guests in bad weather

Festival guests had no sleeping accommodation or luggage storage and when the festival was canceled on the first day, they were stranded

The models who promoted the festival for months before it failed to launch each said they weren’t exactly sure how much of a fraud McFarland was.

McFarland worked closely with rapper Ja Rule at the failed festival. Ja Rule was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing

Since his release from prison in 2022, McFarland has spoken publicly about plotting his return to the corporate realm

The first Fyre Festival disaster saw McFarland team up with rapper Ja Rule to raise millions in investment, promising to host a one-of-a-kind luxury music festival event in the Bahamas featuring models, DJs, luxury residences and extravagant meals.

McFarland paid models like Kendall Jenner to promote the event on Instagram and distributed seduction promotional videos and photos to entice people to buy tickets for thousands of dollars each.

But the event was a disaster, with people arriving on the island of Great Exuma to find a scene more akin to a disaster camp than a lavish festival.

Court documents described the scene as “utter disorganization and chaos.” The “luxury accommodations” were FEMA emergency tents, the “gourmet food” consisted of barely passable cheese sandwiches served in Styrofoam containers, and the “hottest musical acts” were nowhere to be seen.

The festival sold about 8,000 tickets over two weekends, with attendees spending between $1,000 and $12,000 on tickets. It was canceled on opening day, leaving people stranded on the island without much base amnesty.