Billy McFarland, the man behind the infamously fraudulent Fyre Festival, was sentenced to six years of federal prison Thursday, according to TMZ.
The Fyre Festival was advertised as a high-profile concert in The Bahamas with luxury accommodations, fine dining, and A-List entertainment that would take place over two weekends in April and May of 2017. Many supermodels and influencers, including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, and Hailey Baldwin, were purported to attend and some promoted it on their social media accounts. (RELATED: Hailey Baldwin’s Bridal Party May Be The Best Looking Group Of Models Ever [PHOTOS])
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What guests found upon arrival, however, was something totally different.
Attendees — who reportedly paid between $1,200 and $100,000 to go — were forced to sleep in tents with no running water or air conditioning, and eat slapdash sandwiches for meals.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Trevor DeHaas (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
We have been locked indoors with no air NO FOOD and NO water #fyrefestival #fyrefest fyrefraud pic.twitter.com/wg5pZmSvnx
— Lamaan. لمان القلال (@LamaanElGallal) April 28, 2017
So on Thursday, head honcho Billy McFarland, who organized the festival and made upwards of $1 million while doing so, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for two counts of wire fraud. He’ll also have to hand over $26 million of funds related to the fraud.
And as if that’s not bad enough, a $100 million class action lawsuit has been filed against McFarland and rapper Ja Rule (who also helped to organize the festival), which claims the two urged high-profile celebrities not to attend — but neglected to tell normal people the same.
“The remorse I feel is crushing,” McFarland said in front of the New York federal court Thursday. “I’ve lived every day with the weight of knowing that I literally destroyed the lives of my friends and family.”
