Billy McFarland, the head honcho of the doomed Fyre Festival, has been charged with perpetrating another massive scam while awaiting his sentence for rorting investors of the disastrous 2017 event.
McFarland surrendered to authorities in New York City on Tuesday after a new criminal complaint alleged he committed wire fraud and money laundering offences.
It’s alleged he operated a company called NYC VIP Access, which claimed access to tickets for exclusive events including Burning Man, the Super Bowl, Coachella, and even the Met Gala.
The problem: the tickets allegedly weren’t sold as advertised, or they never even existed at all.
It is alleged McFarland specifically targeted Fyre Festival attendees as a part of the scheme, and singled out potential marks by their estimated income as listed on an old Fyre Festival spreadsheet.
The filing claims McFarland attempted to distance his name from the scheme by asking an unnamed employee to cold-call prospective buyers. Payments were then allegedly sent to a bank account held by the employee.
McFarland is accused of not producing the correct tickets after the money went through, or of simply not offering the tickets at all. It’s alleged he scammed at least 15 customers out of more than $132,000 during the operation.
Of course, those allegations come on top of the original Fyre Festival fraud charges.
In March, McFarland plead guilty to defrauding Fyre Media, Inc. investors of more than $31 million, as well as rorting a ticket broker out of $2.6 million in tickets to future Fyre Festivals.
His plea deal included an assurance that prosecutors would not seek a prison sentence of longer than 10 years. He’s scheduled to face sentencing on June 21.
After the latest allegations though… Well. Things could get a lot, lot worse for one of the most emblematic crooks of the Millennial generation.
