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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
World
Jake Hackney

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland says he is ‘working on something new’ following release from prison

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has revealed he is working on a new project following his release from prison earlier this year. McFarland, 31, posted a cryptic video to TikTok on Monday where he teases an event to which “everyone is invited.”

He also admitted his guilt in the infamous Fyre Festival fiasco by saying he “f***ed around” and is using the mysterious new event “to make things up to everybody”. In the video, McFarland is seen standing in front of a whiteboard and admitting his past mistakes.

He says: “As you might know, I f***ed around. And because of that, I definitely found out.

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“Obviously, I’ve had a little too much time to think about this, but I do feel like the moment is right to start making this up to everybody.”

He then flips the board over to reveal a map, and begins teasing details of his next project. He says: “You might have guessed, but I’m working on something new.

“This time it’s a little crazier, but a whole lot bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before. 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.”

He concludes by ripping the map off the board to reveal some writing which has been censored. According to MailOnline, it originally showed a phone number which, when dialed, asks for your contact details and sends a text with a link to the “first clue.”

The clue is reportedly a YouTube video featuring a bikini clad woman swimming amongst sharks in Carribean blue water. McFarland gained notoriety after he founded the ill-fated Fyre Festival which took place in the Bahamas in 2017.

Promoted as a luxury music festival attendees paid thousands for tickets for the festival, but on arrival found disaster relief tents instead of the promised luxury villas, and pre-packed cheese sandwiches in place of gourmet cuisine.

McFarland was later convicted of two counts of fraud in a Manhattan federal court and ordered to pay back more than $25m to his victims. He was sentenced to six years in prison, of which he served four in addition to six months house arrest.

The debacle was the focus of two documentaries in 2019, Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.

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