CMU School of Drama


Thursday, September 14, 2017

Report: Billy McFarland Used Fyre Fest Credit to Operate Ticket Scheme

www.ticketnews.com: If you thought you’d seen the last of now-infamous Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland after he was arrested in New York with a criminal charge of wire fraud in June, you were sadly (for him) mistaken. Documents unearthed and reported by VICE News show that McFarland used his Fyre Media LLC credit card to purchase over $1 million in event tickets, which he then sold through another venture. Called Magnises, the business was a members-only network that promised access to “a unique set of cultural and professional experiences”. Now, he’s blown investors’ money, ruined employees’ credit, and is in even more debt and legal trouble than previously expected.

2 comments:

Kelly Simons said...

I find this entire Fyre festival ordeal simply hilarious. All the richest people on the planet got scammed by a smarter business man. Eerily similar, probably, to the business practices used in order to make money for the richest people on the planet. Honestly, when the phrase “white-collar defense attorney” pops up while talking about a lawsuit I don’t really feel all that bad for both Bill McFarland, or the rich yuppies who gave their money to him. The article states: “If he had fraudulent intent, that is to say, to rip off his investors, that could be a state or maybe a federal securities claim. On the other hand, if what you’re talking about essentially gross mismanagement — somebody bad at running the company, who had a bad idea how to finance it, and used his investors’ funds improperly — that might be grounds for a lawsuit by those investors.” I’m interested to see which way the lawsuit leans in the future.

Emma Reichard said...

Wow, I love watching this train wreck. The Fyre Festival was its own source of hilarity, so this is really just a cherry on top. I really can’t tell if this guy was intentionally screwing people over or if he was just so dumb and privileged that he ran his company into the ground. I mean, clearly he doesn’t have any sort of regard for the value of money, or what being in debt really means. And I guess it makes sense that someone who’s friends and family can afford to regularly loan them $50,000- $150,000 wouldn’t be raised to think about these things. I do feel pretty bad for the employees who’s credit was destroyed though. But I also am not sure it’s a very wise business decision to co-sign on a company credit card as an employee. Either way, I hope this guy enjoys his jail time and the public humiliation.