>
Former staff members who worked for the con man behind the disastrous Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland, are warning people who might be duped by the convicted con man’s new venture to stay away.
McFarland, 31, announced his new company, PYRT, on a recent TikTok late last year, describing it as “decentralized immersive virtual reality.”
However, despite the technical language, there appear to be striking similarities between this and his failed festival in which around 5,000 victims were defrauded of $26 million.
Though still in the planning stages, in a new virtual event, McFarland seems to have missed his lesson, as he claims it will feature a live stream of “artists and creators” having fun in the Bahamas.
It has brought loyal former employees to speak out before McFarland gets too far ahead of himself, which is likely to end in disaster.
Billy McFarland, a convicted fraudster, has advertised PYRT as a “virtual immersive decentralized reality” on TikTok with several striking similarities between PYRT and Fyre.
Billy is still Billy. He is using different words, but he is selling the same thing,” said Shiyuan Deng, a former product designer at Fyre Media.
Billy is still Billy. He’s using different words, but he’s selling the same thing,” he told Shiyuan Deng, a former product designer at Fyre Media. NBC News.
“He was really good at shooting but he had no technical skills,” Deng explained.
Another former Fyre Media employee was also struck by the parallels between the two companies.
“The similarities are there around the vague and mysterious promotion,” said another former employee who wished to remain anonymous.
‘PYRT seems to be an exercise in smoke and mirrors, buzzwords and empty promises of lavish trips to the Bahamas.
“As a former employee who has relied on Billy’s leadership in the past, new clients, investors and employees should proceed with caution,” they warned.
But McFarland seems determined to get back to business as soon as he can.
“I was talking to someone yesterday and they said, ‘You can go down a hole and die, or you can try to do something and not promise any results,'” he said. nbc.
“This time, it’s a little crazier but way bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before,” McFarland said in a TikTok video from October.
Using a whiteboard and poster in a clip filmed in his rented apartment, McFarland explained: ‘PYRT is not a festival. It is not an event. And it’s definitely not the metaverse,’ the convicted scammer said in the video before describing PYRT as a festival in the Bahamas combined with a virtual online festival.
“He was really good at pitching but he had no technical skills,” said former McFarland staffer Shiyuan Deng.
In his vision, the project will partner with a “small and remote destination” to host a “handful of artists, content creators, entrepreneurs, and any of you who end up joining the PYRT team.”
‘At the same time, others around the world can join a virtual recreation of the island to Not only do they see what happens live, but they can also join their friends to realize and even own their adventures in the real world.
McFarland suggested that his latest venture is only open to the public who wish to visit it virtually. He claimed that it will take place on an island in Exuma, in the exact same location on the island for the doomed Fyre festival, but did not clearly identify it.
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism said in a statement that McFarland has not submitted any applications for an event in the Bahamas and that the country considers him a fugitive.
“The Government of The Bahamas will not endorse or approve any event in The Bahamas associated with it,” a statement explained.
The convicted scammer had been teasing the announcement for weeks, first by posting a cryptic video to his TikTok page sparking an “everyone is invited” event.
Last year, McFarland sent a letter to the government saying he was writing to “apologize profusely” for his actions.
“My main focus is how I can right the wrongs and how I can make the Bahamas and the Family Islands, a region I care so much about, whole again,” he wrote.
When asked about the island nation’s involvement in his latest project, McFarland was quick to brush it off.
“I think once everyone has paid up, I’d love to have a conversation to see if that relationship can be mended,” he said. ‘It’s still a journey for me and I’m not perfect in terms of marketing.
The scammer characterized the event at the time as a way to make amends for his previous misdeeds, beginning the video with the admission that he “fucked up.”
“My answer is there’s no rush and I’ve had four or five years to really understand what I suck at and try to get help there,” he said.
“I’m really getting back into technology, which I think is where my unique skill set lies,” McFarland added.
But McFarland will face obstacles no matter what he tries next. He is prohibited from serving as a director of a public company again.
His latest project comes just months after he was released from prison four years after serving his six-year sentence for wire fraud.
In another recent interview, he admitted that the “fucked up part” of his scheme was lying to investors who spent $26 million on the hyper-exclusive event.
This new venture also appears to be in part a plan to offset debts it still owes to both the Bahamian government and wealthy investors, as $50 of every $250 PYRT jacket sold will go toward repairs.
The Fyre Festival in Greater Exuma was a disaster, with guests paying over $1,000 only to find there was no accommodation and scheduled performances cancelled.
McFarland characterized his affair as a way to make amends for his previous misdeeds, prefacing the video with the admission that he “fucked up”.
“As you know, I screwed up,” he said. ‘And because of that, I definitely figured it out.’
You may have guessed it, but I’m working on something new. This time it’s a little crazier, but much bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before,” he continued.
His FYRE Festival garnered a lot of attention in 2017 when wealthy investors lured by the promise of celebrities flocked to the island of Greater Exuma, only to find there was no food, bathroom, music or even basic accommodation.
Those who paid more than $1,000 later had to fight their way off the island and many were forced to sleep in tents usually reserved for those made homeless by hurricanes or other natural disasters.
McFarland pleaded guilty in 2018 to two counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison. He also faced a $26 million forfeiture order.
The site was unfinished when wealthy partygoers flocked to the Bahamas in 2017 and were forced to sleep in tents that were tents left over from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
He has discussed his failures in other recent interviews, acknowledging full shipping podcast that investors had told him that the Fyre Festival was doomed even before people started arriving on the island.
“I was a bit stuck in this mentality that we have to go very fast. And the downside is that there are great artists in a beautiful venue, but it’s not perfect,” he said of his decision not to cancel the event.
‘And I didn’t understand that the downside is that people can’t stay there. It’s like I’m not ready. I just didn’t understand the downside,” he explained, noting that he was still early in his career in website design.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” he admitted. “We released it as a trailer to see if anyone cared and it worked. And then we said “okay, four months, we’re going to do this.”
A photo of a sad looking cheese sandwich that was delivered to guests in a styrofoam container.
In a separate questioning on Good Morning America last year, he was asked why he didn’t just cancel the event when he realized it was going to flop.
He said he was so desperate to “prove himself” to his employees and investors that he refused to listen.
‘I was wrong. I ruined it. He was so driven by this desperate desire to prove people right,” he said.
“I had these early investors, sponsors, employees, and I think I was so insecure that I thought the only way to prove myself to them was to be successful and that led me down this terrible path of bad decisions.”
I need to apologize and that’s the first and last thing to do. I let people down,” she explained.
“What I told investors was wrong and I think the hardest thing for me is the trust that I violated…whether they were friends, investors or employees, people gave up a lot to try to make this happen.”
‘What do I call them now and look them in the eye when I disappoint them? I really should have called it all off and stopped lying.
‘I should have listened [to my employees]. There are no excuses.’
McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in October 2018 and was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released from prison in March 2022 after serving just four years.