Hide your funds, stuff your cards between the mattresses, and keep your account info to yourself because scammers are getting released this May. Billy McFarland–the organizer behind the disastrous Fyre Festival–has been released from prison but will be under community confinement.
If this story sounds like déjà vu, that’s an entirely different scammer that you’re thinking of, folks.
Scam SZN Came Early as Fyre Festival Promoter Billy McFarland Is Released After 4 Years
For a brief flashback, Billy McFarland teamed up with rapper Ja Rule to host a music festival that was supposed to run on the weekend of April 28, 2017, and May 5, 2017, in the Bahamas. There were also supposed to be luxury accommodations and the works for festival-goers.
It did not turn out like that at all. Preparations for the festival were still being done when attendees arrived, the weather was bad in Grand Exuma that morning, and attendees waited around for hours in tents—this was just the first day. We can’t forget about the gourmet cheese sandwiches.
Organizers also tried to renegotiate what was promised since Fyre Festival had become pricier than expected. Also, Blink-182 bailed on the event. The whole thing was a mess that played out on social media and drew ridicule for both the organizers and those who paid a lot of money to attend what many smelled was a scam.
Fast forward and Billy McFarland was charged with wire fraud and swindling investors out of over $27 million for the festival. He was given a six-year sentence and sent off to FCI Elkton in late 2018. In the aftermath, there were several beefy lawsuits and settlements in the matter.
He was later moved to Brooklyn’s RRM New York in May 2020. His expected release was for later this year in August but on March 30, 2022, McFarland was released into community confinement. That means he could be at home or staying in a halfway house until late August.
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