Billy McFarland Net Worth

What is Billy McFarland’s Net Worth?

net worth:	-$26 million
age:	Thirty-two
date of birth:	December 11, 1991
gender:	male
high:	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
country of origin:	USA
Source of wealth:	entrepreneur
Last updated:	August 5, 2024

introduce

William Z. “Billy” McFarland is an American convicted fraudster and former entrepreneur who co-founded the ill-fated Fyre Music Festival.

He defrauded investors of $27.4 million by marketing and selling tickets to music festivals and other events.

In 2013, McFarland founded Magnises, a company that sells invitation-only credit cards, with $1.5 million in investor funding.

Billy McFarland’s net worth is approximately $26 million.

early life

William Z. “Billy” McFarland was born on December 11, 1991 in Millburn, New Jersey.

Both his parents are real estate developers.

At age 13, Billy founded an online outsourcing startup that matched clients with web designers.

McFarland attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, where he studied computer engineering for less than nine months.

Profession

Billy McFarland was once on track to become one of the richest men in the world, but then lost his entire fortune.

Although he is now in trouble, not long ago he was one of the hottest emerging entrepreneurs for his business skills.

When he was just 13, he founded an online outsourcing startup that matched clients with web designers around the world.

After graduating from Pingree High School in 2010, he enrolled at Bucknell University but dropped out in May of his freshman year.

From dropout to millionaire

After dropping out of college, McFarland created a sensation as CEO of online advertising platform Spling.

Described as a content-sharing network, Spling was criticized for being too similar to other services available at the time.

Although Spling was a short-lived startup, McFarland did not remain silent for long and instead made a comeback with Magnises.

Dubbed New York’s most unique credit card, Magnises is a “black card” that comes with benefits and club memberships in certain major cities.

Although Magnises was one of the most exclusive black cards in the world when it was launched, it has since been described as a scam.

Following the Fyre Festival disaster in McFarland, Magnises was shut down and its website is no longer accepting new user registrations.

The infamous Fyre Festival

The Fyre Festival was founded by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule and was originally scheduled to be held in the Bahamas in 2017.

McFarland heavily promoted the festival on Instagram, even enlisting the likes of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to help promote it.

Unfortunately, during the first weekend of the festival, almost everything went wrong, including food, accommodation, security and medical care.

Instead of the gourmet meals and luxurious villas they paid for, attendees were given pre-packaged sandwiches and rudimentary tents.

Because of this, the festival was ultimately postponed indefinitely, but it was immediately scrutinized due to its high profile.

Lies Exposed

Although guests were promised luxury accommodations and performances from artists such as Lil Yachty and Migos, they received far less.

After the festival was postponed indefinitely, it was revealed that McFarland had borrowed approximately $7 million as a source of financing.

One of the loans was for $3 million and required McFarland to repay at least $500,000 within 16 days of borrowing.

To repay the loan, McFarland emailed participants suggesting they deposit $300 to $500 for each day they planned to attend.

The money raised about $2 million for the festival and was used to pay off his short-term loans, according to the lawsuit.

In 2017, Billy McFarland and Ja Rule were sued for $100 million for leaving attendees stranded in the Bahamas without basic necessities.

Law and Order

In addition to the first lawsuit, another class action lawsuit was filed in May 2017, along with six federal lawsuits and four individual lawsuits.

McFarland was subsequently arrested by federal agents and charged with wire fraud, which carries a possible sentence of four years and nine months in prison.

While out on bail, he continued to use the New York City VIP Access Program to commit fraud, selling tickets to sold-out events.

In 2018, he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and agreed to forfeit $26 million that investors had put into his company.

He was sentenced to six years in federal prison that same year and was released in March 2022, ending his house arrest in September.

His story is included in one of the best documentaries on Netflix, Fyre: The Biggest Party That Never Happened.

However, in April 2023, he announced on Twitter that Fyre Festival II was going to take place, so he may not have learned his lesson.