Bahamas official calls Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland a ‘fugitive’ as he launches treasure hunt venture
McFarland just finished a five-year prison sentence for wire fraud
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Billy McFarland, perhaps best known as the driving force behind the infamous Fyre Festival, may no longer be in prison, but there’s at least one nation ready to lock him back up if they can find him.
The cliff notes version of McFarland’s story is this: he scammed a bunch of influencers and wanna-be-influencers into paying between $500-$12,000 in tickets alone to participate in what he claimed would be a star-studded, luxury island party experience in the Bahamas. The attendees were left sleeping on the sand, eating cheese sandwiches, and sheltering from rain when McFarland’s vision failed to materialise.
Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper released a letter Monday calling McFarland a "fugitive" in response to the news that he was out of prison and trying to host a global treasure hunt.
McFarland announced the new venture, called PYRT, in a TikTok video. During the clip — which resembles the glossy footage he used to promote the Fyre Festival — he appears to send someone who found a bottle to the Bahamas.
The nation said it would not allow any event run by McFarland to operate within its borders asked that anyone with information on the fraudster’s location report it to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in 2018 resulting from the Fyre Festival and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Assistant US Attorney Kristy Greenberg said during the trial that McFarland had showed a "pattern of deception" and that he overpromised "luxury experiences that were not delivered" throughout his career. He was also ordered to repay $26m he took from investors.
In June 2018, McFarland was charged with selling fraudulent tickets to events including the Met Gala, Burning Man, and Coachella while he was out on bail. He pleaded guilty to those charges a month later.
He attempted to get into the island nation’s good graces by offering an apology "for my actions five years ago," TMZ reported.
“My main focus is how I can right my wrongs and how I can make the Bahamas and Family Islands, a region I care so deeply about, whole again," he wrote.
The Fyre Fest debacle resulted in several lawsuits and generated a pair of dueling documentaries outlining the event’s implosion.