Joe Yates
Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland has made a bombshell announcement just two months after revealing plans for a second instalment set to take place this spring.
After serving less than four years behind bars for his involvement in the infamous 2017 festival, the 33-year-old voiced his plans to have another shot, listing tickets for as much as $1.1 million back in February.
'Fyre Festival 2' was initially earmarked to take place on Isla Mujeres, located off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, between May 30 and June 2, but just last week, the convicted felon announced that it had been postponed indefinitely.
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Fortunately, this time, ticket holders were notified that they had been issued refunds. You may recall that eight years ago, investors and customers lost over $26 million in two separate fraud schemes, as explained by the US Attorney's Office for the South District of New York.
Now, McFarland has unveiled plans to sell the 'Fyre' brand - even boasting that it has became 'one of the world’s most talked-about music festivals'... although for maybe all the wrong reasons, Billy!
He issued a lengthy statement on the business website, which read in part: "Over the past two years, we’ve poured everything into bringing FYRE back with honesty, transparency, relentless effort, and creativity. We’ve taken the long road to rebuilding trust. We rebuilt momentum. And we proved one thing without a doubt: FYRE is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world.
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"Since 2017, FYRE has dominated headlines, documentaries, and conversations as one of the world’s most talked-about music festivals. We knew that FYRE was big, but we didn’t realize just how massive the wave would become. That wave has brought us here: to a point where we know it’s time to call for assistance.
"This brand is bigger than any one person and bigger than what I’m able to lead on my own. It’s a movement. And it deserves a team with the scale, experience, and infrastructure to realize its potential."
Continuing: "We have decided the best way to accomplish our goals is to sell the FYRE Festival brand, including its trademarks, IP, digital assets, media reach, and cultural capital - to an operator that can fully realize its vision."
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The New Yorker went on to claim that 'several Caribbean destinations' had gotten in touch, eager to host Fyre Festival 2, before suggesting the media attention was to blame for his disastrous first attempt.
"While I'm incredibly excited, I can't risk a repeat of what happened in Playa Del Carmen, where support quickly turned into public distancing once media attention intensified.
"For FYRE Festival 2 to succeed, it’s clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward independently, bringing the vision to life on this incredible island."