Residence New York, NY Role Entrepreneur Name Billy McFarland | Years active 2005-present Nationality American Alma mater Bucknell University | |
 | ||
Born 1991 (age 23–24) New York, NY Occupation Founder and CEO, Spling
(2010-present)
Founder and CEO, Magnises
(2013-present) | ||
William Z. McFarland (born 1991) is an American entrepreneur who was the founder and CEO of three companies: Spling, Magnises, and Fyre Media. McFarland 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.
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Early life and education
McFarland was born in New York City and raised in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey. His parents are real estate developers. At the age of 13, he founded his first company, an online outsourcing business that matched clients with designers.
McFarland attended the Pingry School for high school. He briefly attended Bucknell University (less than one year) in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he studied computer engineering for a period of less than nine months.
Career
McFarland 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.
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. McFarland 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.
Fyre Festival
McFarland founded Fyre Media, and publicized a luxury music festival called Fyre Festival to promote the Fyre music booking app. The festival, to be held in April 2017, experienced a number of serious management, administration and misrepresentation issues and was canceled after guests had begun to arrive. The festival subsequently became the focus of federal investigations and multiple lawsuits. McFarland 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.
Fraud charges
On May 1, 2017, Fyre Festival Organizers Billy Mcfarland and Ja Rule were sued for $100 million in a class action lawsuit in relation to the failed Fyre festival which left attendees stranded on the island without basic provisions. In addition to the class action lawsuit filed in May 2017, six federal and four individual lawsuits were filed in relation to the scheme. McFarland was arrested by federal agents on June 30, 2017, and charged with wire fraud in relation to Fyre and Fyre Festival. He was released on $300,000 bail on July 2. McFarland faces up to four years and nine months under U.S. sentencing guidelines, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristy Greenberg. She added that McFarland's short but eventful career showed a "pattern of deception" and "overpromising luxury experiences that were not delivered". Despite driving a $100,000 Maserati and living in a $21,000 per month rental apartment, McFarland told the court that he was broke and could not afford a private attorney. McFarland later hired a private attorney from Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP. He is currently in plea negotiations with the U.S. government.