Billy McFarland Biography

Billy McFarland (William Z. McFarland) is an American entrepreneur known for been the the founder and CEO of Fyre Media which promoted the Fyre Festival, a music festival that defrauded ticket buyers.

McFarland is a convicted felon charged with defrauding investors out of $27.4M. He was placed under arrest on June 30, 2017, and charged with wire fraud in Manhattan federal court related to the organization of the Fyre Festival to promote the Fyre music booking app, and on October 11, 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison.

McFarland founded his first company at the age of 13, an online outsourcing business that matched clients with designers.

Billy McFarland Age

He was born in 1991 in New York, New York, United States. He is 31 years old as of 2022.

Billy McFarland Height

McFarland stands at a height of 6 feet 4 inches tall.

Billy McFarland Family | Billy McFarland Parents

McFarland was born in New York City to Steven H. McFarland and Irene McFarland and grew up in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey. Both his parents are real estate developers.

Billy McFarland Wife

Billy is currently in a relationship with a Russian model Anastasia Eremenko.

Billy McFarland Net Worth

Billy McFarland net worth is estimated to be around $1 million to $5 million.

Billy McFarland Salary

McFarland earns an estimated salary of about $10000 to $50000 annually.

Billy McFarland Education

McFarland briefly attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he studied computer engineering for a period of less than nine months.

He dropped out of college toward the end of his freshman year and founded the online ad platform Spling, where, as of July 2015, he continued to be the CEO.

Billy McFarland Career

In August 2013, McFarland founded Magnises, aiming to create an exclusive “black card” with social perks such as club membership, targeted at status-oriented millennials in certain big cities. He also launched Fyre Media Inc., the parent company of the Fyre Festival.

In a term sheet sent to investors, Fyre Media claimed to be worth $90 million. By contrast, authorities allege the company did only about $60,000 in business.

On July 23, 2018, The New York Post reported that New York socialite Anna Delvey may have grifted four months of free lodging at the SoHo loft owned by McFarland. The loft was also used as the headquarters for the defunct millennial black credit card company, Magnises.

Billy McFarland Fyre Festival

Billy McFarland founded Fyre Media, and publicized a luxury music festival called Fyre Festival to promote the Fyre music booking app.

The festival, which was to be held in April 2017, and was advertised by a video which included a bevy of Instagram models including Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski who, along with Kendall Jenner were expected to all be at the festival, experienced a number of serious management, administration and misrepresentation issues and was canceled after guests had begun to arrive.

Fyre Festival subsequently became the focus of federal investigations and multiple lawsuits. Billy borrowed as much as $7 million in an effort to fund the festival, taking one loan with an effective annualized rate of 120 percent. The lender sued, alleging McFarland defaulted on the loan.

Billy McFarland Seth MacFarlane Related – Is Billy McFarland Related to Seth MacFarlane?

Many people on the Internet noticed McFarland’s passing resemblance to Seth MacFarlane which brought about the question if the two are related. The truth is that MacFarlane does not have any familial relation to the convicted felon, let alone being a brother. Seth MacFarlane also has nothing to do with the Fyre fiasco.

Billy McFarland Release

McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison on wire fraud charges in Oct. 2018. But justice may not be served for investors and festival goers, as RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal McFarland is getting out of prison early.

McFarland’s release date is Sept. 1, 2023, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons. The release date is nearly one year less than the original sentence.

“He served a significant amount of time before he was actually sentenced,” a source close to McFarland told Radar. “That time is credited against his sentence.”

McFarland, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March 2018.