Billy McFarland is an American convicted felon and former CEO who has a net worth of -$5 million. Billy McFarland is most famous for organizing the disastrous Fyre Festival which was supposed to be held in April 2017. He was born in 1991 in New York City and raised in Short Hills, New Jersey. He briefly studied at Bucknell University but dropped out, reportedly after just nine months. Upon leaving college he founded an ad network called Spling. In 2013 he founded a company called Magnises which aimed to develop an exclusive benefits credit card for millenials in big cities. The card promised to give holders access to special social clubs and other perks. The company was not ultimately successful.
Fyre Festival: Not long after founding the company, McFarland claimed in a letter sent to potential investors that the concert was already worth $90 million. He justified that valuation by alleging that the company had received millions of sponsorship dollars and ticket sales. Authorities would later prove that at that point the company had generated just $57,000 in revenue. The festival was advertised as a custom-built tropical paradise featuring glamorous models where guests would stay in luxury villas on a private island eating meals prepared by 5-star chefs. The event went viral when ticket holders arrived to find a disorganized third world disaster. The luxury tents turned out to be disaster-relief tents that were shoddily put-together. The food turned out to be slices of cheese on bread served in Styrofoam containers. VIP tickets to the festival cost $49,000. The average day pass cost $450.
Billy and his partner Ja Rule were quickly sued for $100 million. In March 2018 Billy pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud in federal court. He admitted to using fake documents to secure 26 million in funding. He eventually agreed to forfeit more than $26 million and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Hulu Documentary Payday: Billy appeared in Hulu’s January 2019 documentary “Fyre Fraud”. He reportedly was approached by Netflix to appear in their version of a Fyre documentary but Netflix declined when he asked to be paid. Hulu reportedly ended up paying Billy $250,000.
| Net Worth: | -$5 Million |
| Place of Birth: | New York City, New York, U.S. |