Convicted Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland wants a second chance

By Brad Edwards, John Dodge

August 31, 2023 / 8:00 AM / CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Billy McFarland, who went to prison for orchestrating one of the biggest music festival failures in history, wants you to trust him this time.

In April, about seven months after he was released from his prison sentence on a fraud conviction over the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival, McFarland announced he wanted to do it all again with Fyre Festival 2.

Never mind that there really was never a Fyre Festival 1, which failed to deliver the promised top-tier music performances and food in an exotic locale.

McFarland told CBS 2's Brad Edwards things would be different this time. He said he would partner with "one of the biggest festival companies in the U.S." to handle logistics and support.

He wouldn't name the company. That announcement will come in the fall, he said.

He told Edwards that he would only focus on hyping the event, not the logistics.

"If anybody sees me trying to install a bathroom, please run away fast because things have definitely gone wrong," McFarland said.

He has a bit of a unique marketing strategy, too.

"My job is to create this turbulence where you are not sure if I am going to crash or land, but you will all have a front-row seat, and you won't get hurt along the way," McFarland said.

"I think if I can tell that story, we can create Fyre Festival 2 and make it a cultural moment as well.

"We are embracing the controversy and the turbulence."

He said the initial presale of 100 tickets sold out quickly. And, to prove it, at CBS 2's request, he showed Edwards a screenshot of an escrow account with about $45,000 in ticket revenue.

"Sure, why not," McFarland said when asked to provide the proof. "You'll get the exclusive."

Ticket prices will increase in future sales. McFarland said it would cost millions to pull off the event, which is planned for some time at the end of 2024 and someplace in the Caribbean.

As for the concert lineup, that's to be determined. It will be a "mix of artists across all genres," McFarland said.

He said he feels "the snakes trying to strangle me" but also the support of others. He claimed people who "lost his phone number" after his conviction started calling him back.

The original festival was promoted as an ultra-luxurious event and "the cultural experience of the decade."

It was supposed to occur over two spring 2017 weekends on the Bahamian island of Exuma.

Customers who paid $1,200 to over $100,000 hoping to see Blink-182 and the hip-hop act Migos arrived to learn musical acts were canceled. Their luxury accommodations and gourmet food consisted of leaky white tents and soggy cheese sandwiches.

"I was definitely served the infamous cheese sandwich in jail a few times. So l lost some weight from that. Got a taste of my own medicine," McFarland said.

McFarland admitted to defrauding investors of $26 million in the 2017 Fyre Festival and over $100,000 in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest in the scam.

"The defendant is a serial fraudster," Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said at sentencing. She said that the Fyre Festival was "not a good idea gone bad" as McFarland sometimes has wanted to portray it.

"Mr. McFarland is a fraudster and not simply a misguided young man," Buchwald said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Brad Edwards is an investigative reporter and main anchor at CBS2 Chicago.

First published on August 31, 2023 / 8:00 AM

CHICAGO (CBS) Contributing: