[imagesource: AP / Shutterstock]

No matter what he does for the rest of his days, Billy McFarland will be known as the Fyre Fest guy.

If you were watching from afar, the 2017 clusterf*ck in the Bahamas was one of the year’s most amusing stories.

Tickets ranged from $450 to $250 000, the likes of Ja Rule, Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid were on board and marketing it, and it promised to be frolicking on the beach with supermodels by day, and bands by night.

You only need to take one look at the deconstructed cheese sandwich that was served to know the wheels came off in spectacular fashion.

In 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to fraud stemming from his role in organising the festival and spent close to four years in prison and another six months of additional confinement.

He’s out now and he’s been chatting to The New York Times about what the future holds. Spoiler alert – he’s not keen to lay low:

Moments after removing an electronic ankle monitor at the Gold Street halfway house where he had stayed earlier this year, he was posing for a New York Times photographer and talking to a reporter whom he’d approached toward the end of his confinement with the help of a publicist…

Image: Ben Sklar / The New York Times

Mr. McFarland — who has little money in the bank, around $26 million in financial amends to make and no immediate job prospects — said he had purchased the [$700 shoes he was wearing] before his legal problems.

In fact, he actually threw a post-house-arrest party on the night of his release at a restaurant in New York City’s East Village. The interview with the Times was set up by his publicist.

You’d think that being locked up behind bars would slow down that entrepreneurial spirit but nay, not for Billy.

While on probation ahead of being charged for fraud, he launched a VIP ticket service that promised users tickets to events.

Just the one problem – McFarland didn’t have the tickets to events like the Broadway musical Hamilton, Victoria’s Secret fashion show, and the Met Gala.

Surprise surprise, he was hit with further fraud charges which likely added a few more years to his sentence.

What great plans does he have, now that he’s free and staying in a New York City apartment he says is being paid for by family and friends?

“I’d like to do something tech-based… The good thing with tech is that people are so forward-thinking, and they’re more apt at taking risk.

“If I worked in finance, I think it would be harder to get back,” he continued. “Tech is more open. And the way I failed is totally wrong, but in a certain sense, failure is OK in entrepreneurship.”

Failure and massive fraud are not the same thing but cool, soldier on.

McFarland said he’s also looking at starting a charity which would help pay travel costs for the families of prisoners.

He may find the public’s trust for donating to a charity he’s linked with hard to come by.

By the way, if you enjoyed the Fyre Fest documentary then I’d highly recommend watching Clusterf**k: Woodstock ’99.

[source:nytimes]