The promoter of the infamous Fyre Festival who was arrested last year for defrauding attendees was rearrested this Tuesday and charged with stealing $100,000 by selling fake tickets to exclusive fashion, music, and sporting events. Billy McFarland was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted. Manhattan federal prosecutors say that McFarland started running the ticket scheme in 2017, just a few months after his arrest in June for defrauding investors of his Fyre Media company out of $24 million.
McFarland was on pretrial release over the Fyre Media scheme when he started targeting attendees of the Fyre Festival to purchase tickets to exclusive events that didn’t actually exist, reports Page Six. He used a spreadsheet to identify the Fyre Festival attendees with the highest salaries, according to federal authorities. Prosecutors claim to have evidence that he also committed bank fraud and identity theft while out on bail.
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