THE TRUTH behind Billy McFarland’s $1.1 million FYRE Festival 2 ticket has been revealed, as the felon’s ex-colleague said it’s “the perfect con,” in an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun.
Former ad exec, JD Beebe, who worked with Billy on his now-defunct membership program, Magnises, said he’s seen the inner workings of the fraudster’s companies and claimed sales claims, like purchases of $1.1 million tickets for FYRE 2, likely aren’t what they seem.
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JD, who credits Billy with being “at least a PR genius,” quipped that advertising a ticket for the strange denomination of $1.1 million alone is a gimmick in itself.
“Think about how great of a headline it is to write that someone bought not even a $1 million ticket, but $1.1 million which is an atypical number, Prometheus ticket.
“And the ticket has all these details.
“If he’s anything, he is an absolute PR genius. The fact that we’re still we’re sitting here talking about him however many years later and I haven’t worked with this guy for 10 years, and I’m still still here, and he’s a genius in that regard. I will give him that.”
Read More FYRE Festival 2
“There is no Prometheus ticket, nobody bought it, nobody bought a second one.
“There’s no way to check this and that’s why this is great,” JD went on to say.
The former ad exec explained that after working in marketing, he has a deep knowledge of how viral tactics are used.
“I’ve done wacky viral stuff before, and you tell tall tales, but I’m not trying to trick people into giving me $1,400 for an entry ticket, or $5,000 for a Phoenix ticket, or whatever it is.
“Again, look, I even know the names of these stupid tickets, so he’s that good.”
JD continued that sales claims to the public often aren’t substantiated.
“No, there’s no way to [find sales numbers] and that’s why it’s not illegal or it’s not policed, and that’s why he can do it and that’s why he will continue to do it.”
“This is why this is the perfect con, because he’ll just keep on coming up with new, colorful packages.
“And it’ll be curious to write about, because it’s curious, and we want to know who the person is [who purchased these $1.1 million ticket], and there is no purchase.”
BILLY’S MILLION DOLLAR TICKET CLAIMS
Before Billy’s FYRE 2 press conference last week, he proclaimed in an Instagram story, “we sold 1 PROMETHEUS pass,” which he had dubiously announced last year.
Then he went on to claim, “We’re featuring the second PROMETHEUS pass holder at Thursday’s press conference.”
However, the promise for watchful eventgoers to be introduced to this supposed second Prometheus pass holder never materialized.
In that same IG story, Billy also claimed that the FYRE festival 2 site has seen “visitors from 192 countries in the past 4 weeks.”
There are only 195 countries in the world, and the United Nations has only considered 37 of them to be developed nations.
In the suspect IG story riddled with claims, Billy also said “Thursday’s press conference and artist announcements will be covered by international media.”
There were no artist announcements made during the press conference, only a claim that there would be 40 of them at FYRE 2.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FOR $1.1 M
If the event goes on as scheduled, which The U.S. Sun previously revealed isn’t a guarantee according to the festival site’s Terms of Service, any potential $1.1 million ticket holder is promised a nice package.
FYRE Festival & Billy McFarland
The inaugural FYRE Festival remains one of the most infamous event disasters in history.
Attendees were left devastated after spending tens of thousands of dollars to attend the event, only to arrive on an island in the Bahamas lacking food, water, and accommodation- not to mention the musical acts all pulled out at the last minute.
The debacle was magnified by social media, with disgruntled influencers sharing their outrage after stepping onto Great Exuma expecting the party of a lifetime.
Instead of the promised luxury villas, festival-goers were greeted by re-purposed emergency FEMA tents.
Enticed by the allure of world-class cuisine, ticket holders found themselves served cold cheese sandwiches in foam containers.
Despite the spectacular failure, Billy exclusively told The U.S. Sun in an interview that he has his reasons for attempting the event a second time.
Billy said: “This is the most tangible way to repay the $26 million that I owe, and having real partners gives an opportunity in the next five to seven years, to actually pay back that $26 million.
“And unfortunately, no one’s offering me $26 million to work somewhere else.”
The convicted felon, who faced charges for misleading his investors, went on to say he is taking full advantage of his notoriety.
“We are literally the most talked about music festival in the world. We’ve had three times as many mentioned this Coachella, which is in second place and there’s a huge drop-off after that.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to steer that ship into the storm and embrace everything that’s happened.”
According to FYRE 2’s website, the package, labeled “PROMETHEUS GOD OF FYRE” gets 8 people access to FYRE Festival 2 for 4 days from May 30 to June 2, 2025.
“PROMETHEUS access to the festival grounds throughout Playa Del Carmen, on-stage access to the Water Stage, fight team access at the Fight Pit, a curated itinerary of FYRE Experiences, 24/7 private chauffeur service, dedicated on-site concierge and access to the PROMETHEUS Marina,” according to the website.
Of course, for the money, you also get your accommodations and travel covered.
The website claimed “pass holders will travel by private air charter on FYRE AIR round trip from Miami to Cancun International Airport” at which point they will be “escorted to a private yacht to be transported to Playa Del Carmen,” where “a dedicated chauffeur” will take guests to their accommodations.
According to the site, there are three stay options with the package including the “choice of a 4-stateroom yacht, a 4-bedroom villa provided by the Nemesis Group, or a 3-bedroom Presidential Suite at the Chablé Maroma, for three (3) nights from Friday, May 30 – Monday, June 2.”
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Content shared from www.the-sun.com.