- According to the latest Fyre Fest odds, the music festival is not expected to take place before the end of 2024.
- Co-founder of Fyre Fest and convicted fraudster, Billy McFarland, announced that a second attempt at the event is currently in the works.
- Tickets have already sold out for the festival, which is scheduled to take place at the end of 2024 in the Caribbean.
In a shot at ‘redemption’, Billy McFarland is looking for forgiveness and a second chance. The fraudster, who was convicted of selling tickets to a bogus ultra-luxurious music festival in Great Exuma, intends to give Frye Fest another try. However, according to Bovada, the odds of Fyre Fest not happening are currently at -135.
Oddsmakers are not fully convinced that Fyre Fest 2.0 will occur. That being said, these are not overwhelming odds one way or the other. At -135 odds, the implied probability of Fyre Fest happening is 57.4 percent.
In other words, there is a less than coin flip chance of Fyre Fest 2.0 being successfully organized and proceeding before the end of 2024.
The first attempt at Fyre Fest occurred in 2017. Described as an immersive music festival, Fyre Fest was expected to offer art, music, gourmet food, luxury accommodations, and partying on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, which was previously owned by Pablo Escobar. The tickets for the event cost between $1,000 to more than $100,000 for VIP packages for one of two weekends.
However, when partygoers arrived at Great Exuma, they were greeted with FEMA disaster relief tents and unappetizing food. The luxurious experience quickly turned into a disaster. In addition to disastrous accommodations, there were no appearances by the promised musical acts.
Performers advertised to perform at Fyre Fest included Pusha T, Major Lazer, Lil Yachty, and Blink 182. Ja Rule, including social media influencers, such as Kendall Jenner and Hailey Baldwin, had a role in promoting Fyre Fest. The Fast and the Furious 1 actor was described as a co-founder of the event, while influencers were responsible for marketing the fraudulent event.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Tr3vor (@TrevorDeHaas) April 28, 2017
Billy McFarland Arrested and Convicted of Wire Fraud
The criminal mastermind behind the fraudulent musical event is Billy McFarland. Following the failed extravaganza in the Bahamas, the then 25-year-old was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of wire fraud.
Upon being charged, McFarland was facing up to 40 years in federal prison. After pleading guilty, the shady entrepreneur was sentenced to six years in June 2018. McFarland would ultimately be released 14 months before his sentence expired.
So Fyre Fest is a complete disaster. Mass chaos. No organization. No one knows where to go. There are no villas, just a disaster tent city. pic.twitter.com/1lSWtnk7cA
— William Needham Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 27, 2017
The news of McFarland’s early release was a shot to the gut for many of the people that he scammed. Including people who bought Fyre Fest tickets, investors were duped out of thousands of dollars. Investor John Nemeth, who is a director for a construction company, committed $180,000 of his own money to invest in Fyre Fest.
“The man should be in jail for the rest of his life; he ruined my life,” Nemeth claimed. “I’m never gonna recoup that money. He stole it. He has no business being out of jail. That’s what happens when you are born from rich parents and you can afford the best lawyers, but you can’t pay back the people you’ve robbed.”
There were some ticket purchasers who ended up recouping their money. As a result of a class action lawsuit, a New York bankruptcy court ruled in favor of 277 people. The Fyre Fest attendees were awarded $7,000 each from the lawsuit.
McFarland allegedly owes a total of $26 million to investors and ticket holders who were scammed.
Accused of Fabricating New Scam While Out On Bail
No, Fyre Fest is not McFarland’s first and only attempt at raking in thousands of dollars by fraudulent means. While McFarland was out on $300,000 bail for the counts of wire fraud, he was up to his old tricks and searching for new victims.
According to U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, McFarland allegedly sold fraudulent tickets to the Met Gala and Burning Man while out of jail on bail. McFarland promoted the sale of the tickets through the Fyre Fest marketing email list.
While the vast majority of email recipients ignored and deleted the message, there were 15 people who jumped on the opportunity from McFarland. The victims were reportedly scammed out of a total of $100,000.
They purchased nonexistent tickets to events, and the Southern District Court of New York ultimately charged McFarland with another count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Could McFarland be attempting to fleece more people looking for a once-in-a-lifetime party in the Caribbean, or is he for real this time? Apparently, there are people willing to take a big gamble on Frye Fest 2.0 happening.
Frye Fest 2.0 Tickets Sold Out
Fyre Fest 2.0 tickets have already sold out, according to McFarland. On Monday, August 21, there was a ticket drop for the next Fyre Fest event. Note that no date or details have been revealed, but people are allegedly purchasing early bird tickets.
The ticket drop sold 100 presale tickets for $499 apiece. They were scooped up quickly, but there is no guarantee that Frye Fest will ever get off the ground.
In the future, there will be more ticket drops released by Fyre Fest 2.0 organizers. The price will continue to increase, with the final tickets behind sold for $7,999 each.
Don’t worry if you can’t afford Fyre Fest 2.0 tickets. McFarland claims that a Fyre Fest musical is in the pipeline. For now, though, bet on whether Fyre Fest 2.0 will happen before 2024 at Bovada.
