Billy McFarland, the 26-year-old founder of the nightmarish Fyre Festival that left hundreds of attendees stranded in the Bahamas last year, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
“The remorse I feel is crushing,” McFarland said during his sentencing on Thursday, Vice News reported. “I lived every day with the weight of knowing that I literally destroyed the lives of my friends and family.”
According to Vice, victims of his scams also testified against him. One investor, Joe Nemeth, said that McFarland had “financially ruined” his and his wife’s life.
“It took me 20 years of saving my lunch money to save $180,000,” he said in court on Thursday. “I hope the justice system has the last laugh at Mr. McFarland,” he said.
McFarland has been awaiting sentencing since pleading guilty to wire-fraud charges made against him in relation to Fyre Festival in March.
In July, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that he, along with the two companies he founded (Fyre Media and Magnises), a former senior executive, and a former contractor, had agreed to settle charges made against them in the Fyre Festival case. The SEC said that McFarland admitted to charges that he defrauded more than 100 investors out of $27.4 million and that he agreed to a permanent office-and-director bar.
Later that month, he pleaded guilty to a second fraudulent scheme completely separate from Fyre Festival, in which he sold tickets to exclusive events such as the 2018 Met Gala, Burning Man, Coachella, the Grammy Awards, and the Super Bowl through a company called NYC VIP Access.
“He concealed his association with NYC VIP Access so that he could solicit customers of Fyre Festival and his other company Magnises to buy tickets without raising suspicion,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wrote in a press release in July.
In September, his attorney, Randall Jackson, asked the judge to give McFarland a lighter sentence, citing a psychiatrist report that diagnosed him with a bipolar-related disorder. Jackson said McFarland has “delusional beliefs of having special and unique talents that will lead to fame and fortune,” the Associated Press reported.
Fyre Festival, which promised to offer attendees a VIP experience when they set off to Great Exuma in the Bahamas, turned into a nightmare. Attendees encountered delayed flights, half-built huts to sleep in, and cold cheese sandwiches to eat.
from Viral Trendy Update https://ift.tt/2pR1YpD
via IFTTT
0 Comments