Billy McFarland ridiculed after Fyre Festival II tickets go on sale: What we know

Billy McFarland – the founder of the fraudulent Fyre Festival – has followed through on his promise to announce a follow-up to the 2017 festival.

"Fyre Festival II tickets are officially on sale," McFarland announced in a video Monday. "It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seventh-month stint in solitary confinement. I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take my ability bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen."

The business entrepreneur added that the Fyre Festival II will be returning to the Caribbean. "In the meantime, we'll be doing pop-ups and events across the world. Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I've been working towards."

McFarland's ambitious plan comes a year after he was released early from prison to a halfway house in New York City after he was sentenced to six years in prison in October 2018 for defrauding Fyre Festival investors.

Fyre Festival II is selling tickets without a venue or date

McFarland may be taking a page from his past with the announcement of Fyre Festival II. Like his first attempt, this announcement does not provide details on an exact Caribbean country for the festival, a confirmed venue, a date or a musical lineup.

"FF II is targeted for the end of 2024 in the Caribbean.* The FYRE Festival Pre-Sale FYRE Pass gets you 1 ticket to FYRE Festival II, as well as immediate VIP access to FYRE Events, Experiences, and Community," the website states.

In a disclaimer, the website adds: "FFII date subject to change. Pre-events and pop-ups to be announced, but FYRE will host a minimum of 4 events prior to FFII."

Tickets for the presale range from $499 for the first 100 tickets sold to $7,999 for the final presale.

Billy McFarland is facing backlash for Fyre Festival II

As of Tuesday, Fyre Festival II has not sold the first 100 tickets. Many social media users have brought up the festival's previous failure as a deterrent from purchasing.

"How can you have a part 2 if the first one never went down?" one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

On Instagram, a social media user commented, "Third time scamming is crazy. Your hustle inspires me though."

"500 bucks 🤣🤣🤣…careful billy the feds are watching," another added.

Who is Billy McFarland? He was found guilty of fraud for 2017 Fyre Festival

During McFarland's case, the entrepreneur acknowledged he defrauded investors of $26 million in the 2017 Fyre Festival and over $100,000 in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest in the scam.

The festival, billed as an ultra-luxurious event and “the cultural experience of the decade,” was supposed to take place over two spring 2017 weekends on the Bahamian island of Exuma. Models and celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski had promoted it on social media.

Customers, who paid $1,200 to over $100,000 hoping to see Blink-182 and the hip-hop act Migos, arrived to learn musical acts were canceled. Their luxury accommodations and gourmet food consisted of leaky white tents and packaged food, prompting attendees to lash out on social media with the hashtag #fyrefraud.

In August 2020, the U.S. Marshals announced that 126 items from the festival would be auctioned off, with proceeds going toward the victims of McFarland.

Fyre Festival documentaries on Netflix and Hulu brought attention to Billy McFarland's fraud case

The scandal was amplified after Netflix documentary "Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened" and Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" aired in 2019.

It advertised the festival would be on Norman’s Cay, a Bahaman island it touted as once owned by Pablo Escobar.

However, as "Fyre" laid out, promoting that the island was once owned by the Colombian drug lord violated McFarland's land agreement. So McFarland had to find a new location for his festival after the video was released.

Both documentaries agree that the twenty-something promoter landed on the nearby Bahamian island Great Exuma only a few weeks before the festival, failing to factor in that it didn't have the necessary infrastructure for several hundred people, namely enough plumbing for everyone. 

Billy McFarlandsays he's planning another Fyre Festival. Why some can't wait.

Billy McFarland was involved in another scam shortly after Fyre Festival

After Fyre Fest failed and McFarland was charged with wire fraud (later he was also charged with bank fraud and giving false statements to a law enforcement officer), he started a new scam: NYC VIP. 

This time, as both documentaries tell it, McFarland used the email list of people who had purchased Fyre Fest passes to offer them tickets to the Met Gala and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

He did not have access to those tickets. No one has access to those tickets.

No matter: As "Fyre" discloses, a few email recipients sent him over $100,000 for tickets, apparently duped again. He eventually pleaded guilty to both the Fyre Fest-related charges and those brought against him for NYC VIP.

Contributing: Carly Mallenbaum

Fyre Festival fraudsterBilly McFarland released from federal prison early