Billy McFarland went to prison for Fyre Fest. Are his plans for a reboot legal?
The controversial entrepreneur is seeking redemption and some people are ready for him to try. Tickets have sold out. But he still owes $26 million in restitution to the people he fleeced.
The spectacular failure of the Fyre Festival in 2017 revealed widespread fraud by creator Billy McFarland, who ended up in a federal prison for four years after bilking investors and ticket buyers out of more than $26 million.
Now, McFarland — who was released back into the world in March 2022 and still owes that money in restitution — is resurrecting his dream of putting on a bigger and better Caribbean Coachella with the unveiling of Fyre Festival II.
On Sunday, standing on a rooftop while dressed in a white bathrobe, he took to YouTube to announce that tickets for the extravaganza, slated sometime in December 2024, were officially up for grabs at $499 a pop.
The event, he claimed, is in response to
