Image via Mark Lennihan / AP file//
The entrepreneur teased his plans in an elaborate social media strategy…
Billy McFarland — the “brains” behind 2017’s Fyre Festival fiasco and resulting fraud case — has announced plans for a new business venture, a mere weeks after his release from prison. McFarland was found guilty of defrauding investors into his Bahamas-based sham of a music festival in 2018, and has since rounded-out his punishment after completing his house arrest in late-September of this year.
Now, McFarland has teased his involvement in a new venture, taking to social media to share cryptic videos of exactly what his next move might be. In TikTok videos uploaded overnight, the so-called entrepreneur uses buzzwords and the allure of mystery to drum up attention for his next project, the details of which will be fully clarified in November. “I’m working on something new,” McFarland says, “[it’s] a little crazier but a whole lot bigger than anything I’ve ever tried before…This time, everybody’s invited.”
@pyrtbillySo TikTok deleted my first post… Let’s try this again
In the video, McFarland speaks while drawing on a treasure map, before revealing a whiteboard with a written phone number. According to Billboard, calling the number results in receiving a text message which reads: “Welcome to the Treasure Hunt” and instructs receivers to fill-out a form. Once completed, users are directed another video of circling sharks (which is probably what McFarland’s invest board meetings felt like). McFarland says that this new venture will be used to pay off the $26 million in restitutions he was ordered to pay after the court proceedings surrounding Fyre Festival.
