It’s been a long road since April 2017’s Fyre Festival, but it seems the saga is finally nearing an end. The Securities and Exchange Commission has ficially settled with Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland and two his co-conspirators to the tune $27.4 million.
Earlier this year, McFarland was $26 million as part a plea deal. Now, McFarland, as well as Grant Margolin (his CMO) and Daniel Simon (an independent contractor), are ordered to pay a total $27.4 million to the victims the festival. Though that number merely ends up a technicality, as the SEC said in their release that the $26 million from the plea deal will suffice.
Each co-conspirator was charged with “violating the antifraud provisions the federal securities laws.” In addition to the fine, McFarland has also been permanently barred from serving as either an ficer or a director a public company. Margolin owes $35,000, and agreed to a 7-year ban; Simon owes $15,000, and has been banned for three years.
Just one the ways that McFarland defrauded investors in the planning Fyre Festival was, according to an , “giving investors a doctored brokerage account statement purporting to show personal stock holdings over $2.5 million when, in reality, the account held shares worth under $1,500.”
Finally McFarland gets what he deserves.