Billy McFarland, organizer of disastrous Fyre Festival, pleads guilty to misleading investors

FAN Editor

Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland pleaded guilty to misleading investors in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.

The Fyre Media CEO said he accepted full responsibility for several serious mistakes he made and acknowledged that he engaged in “fraudulent behavior.”

McFarland apologized to his company, investors and family and said he deeply regretted his actions.

McFarland had been charged with two counts of wire fraud. The first count alleged that McFarland misrepresented his company’s financial health in order to secure investments for Fyre Media.

The second count alleged that McFarland provided false income statements to a ticket vendor in order to get $2 million for a block of advance tickets to future festivals.

His sentencing is scheduled for June 21.

When charges were announced last summer, Joon Kim, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that McFarland had “promised a ‘life changing’ music festival but in actuality delivered a disaster.”

On Tuesday, McFarland said he had “grossly underestimated” the resources necessary to produce an event like Fyre Festival, insisting that his intentions were legitimate.

Billed as a luxury music event in the Bahamas, Fyre Festival went viral last year after festivalgoers shared images and stories of a weekend the fell far short of expectations.

Fyre promoted the event on social media using highly produced ads featuring models like Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski, though the event’s website noted that the images and videos were “conceptual” and that “the actual site layout may vary.”

Although listed as “Private Luxury Villas,” housing at the festival turned out to be USAID disaster-relief tents. Blink 182, Migos, Disclosure, Major Lazer and other artists were scheduled to perform, but many acts canceled.

Day passes for the festival started at $450, while VIP tickets cost as much as $49,000 per person for round-trip flights from Miami, backstage entrance and a dinner with an artist.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

—CNBC’s Michelle Castillo and Helen Zhao contributed to this report.

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