Photo Credit: Web Summit / CC by 3.0
Fyre Festival promoter Billy McFarland is back from his four-year stint in jail to offer ‘something new.’
The infamous promoter shared a now-deleted TikTok in which he teases a new project. “It’s a little crazier but a whole lot bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before,” the man who admitted to defrauding Fyre Festival investors in 2017 begins his new pitch. “I promise I’m going to tell you everything in November, but before we get there, there’s one thing you need to know now–this time, everybody’s invited.”
Following that charming little introduction to his equal opportunity con, McFarland introduces a phone number inviting the viewer to call. Calling the number reveals a plead for your contact info directed at anyone gullible enough to give a convicted conman their contact information. You shouldn’t do that. If you can’t resist though, Saul Goodman’s number is still active. (And he won’t sell your info to shady third-parties.)
A short teaser video on YouTube appears to be the only reward for sharing any contact info with the number.
The Fyre Festival founder was released from prison in May 2022. The promoter was sentenced to six years in prison on two counts of wire and mail fraud for defrauding investors. Fyre Festival was promised as an ultra-luxurious destination music festival that included promotion from numerous A-list celebrity influencers.
Ticket holders who showed up to the island in the Bahamas found a half-baked barely festival with no place to accommodate all ticket holders. Several documentaries produced by both Netflix and Hulu outline the nightmare faced by ticket holders.
At McFarland’s release, his attorney Jason Russo revealed some of McFarland’s motivations for ‘something new.’ “Any new projects that he does become involved in will be done solely for the purpose of generating the restitution for paying back his victims,” Russo said at the time. McFarland has been ordered to pay $26 million in restitution for his crimes to make amends. His ‘something new’ will be a step towards that–are you ready to buy some oceanfront property in Arizona?