Founder of failed Bahamas music festival charged with wire fraud

The co-founder of the now-infamous Fyre Festival was arrested on Friday and charged with federal wire fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said. 

William “Billy” McFarland, 25, an entrepreneur who organized the failed music festival, is facing one count of federal wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Prosecutors allege that McFarland defrauded at least two people to invest roughly $1.2 million in Fyre Media LLC and a subsidiary, Fyre Festival LLC. McFarland, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, provided investors with fake documents and misled them about the company’s revenue and income.

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McFarland allegedly told investors that Fyre Media had earned millions of dollars from booking thousands of artists between at least July 2016 and April 2017. In fact, the company earned less than $60,000 from booking about 60 artists during that timeframe. 

He also provided at least one investor with a brokerage statement that allegedly showed McFarland owned stock in the company worth more than $2.5 million. The U.S. attorney’s office says that stock owned by McFarland was actually worth less than $1,500.

“As alleged, William McFarland promised a ‘life changing’ music festival but in actuality delivered a disaster,” Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

“McFarland allegedly presented fake documents to induce investors to put over a million dollars into his company and the fiasco called the Fyre Festival. Thanks to the investigative efforts of the FBI, McFarland will now have to answer for his crimes.”

McFarland and rapper Ja Rule organized and promoted Fyre Festival as an extravagant getaway in the Bahamas.

But attendees, some of whom purchased tickets for as much as $12,000, were ultimately met by disaster. Festival goers were funneled into makeshift tents, musicians scheduled to perform cancelled and the festival was eventually called off.

McFarland and Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, are facing a class action lawsuit alleging that the disorganization and chaos of Fyre Festival put attendees in danger.