Billy McFarland, the convicted fraudster behind the Fyre Festival debacle, has been sued in Brooklyn state Supreme Court by a former business partner he met while serving time for wire fraud behind bars, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Jonathan Taylor, 54, is suing McFarland, 31, for breach of contract, alleging she defrauded him of more than $650,000 after they formed PYRT Technologies, a Delaware company aimed at creating podcasts, a scavenger hunt and other activities, according to court documents. .
It is also alleged that McFarland hid funds from his probation officer to prevent the money from reaching Fyre Fest victims.
At the time of the deal, McFarland allegedly told Taylor, a Brooklyn-based businessman, that he had $6 million in capital reserves, as well as a $1 million accounting advance. According to the complaint, McFarland said he had a $2 million publishing deal to write about the 2017 Fyre Festival disaster.
Billy McFarland, founder of the infamous 2017 Fyre Fest, was sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud. AP
Taylor met McFarland in a prison in Elkton, Ohio, in 2019, while the former was serving a sentence for sex trafficking of a minor in Florida in 2015.
The two men decided to form the company with McFarland’s business partner, Michael W. Falb, with each partner retaining a one-third interest, according to court documents. Falb is named a co-defendant.
“They had a personal relationship while they were incarcerated,” Taylor’s attorney, Jason Russo, told The Post of Taylor and McFarland. “When Jon came out, he took a liking to Billy and helped him in any way he could.”
Taylor was released from prison in 2020 and began working on projects for PYRT, including a podcast, “Dumpster Fyre,” with McFarland, who participated from prison. McFarland was sent to solitary confinement after a trailer for the podcast was posted online in October 2020.
Jonathan Taylor says Billy McFarland cheated him out of more than $700,000 in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Courtesy of Tom Estey Advertising
“Both [McFarland and Falb] “directed Plaintiff to provide them with funds in various forms to avoid the need for Defendant William Z. McFarland to report receipt of the funds to his probation officer, or for the funds to be subject to seizure or garnishment,” the lawsuit says. .
In addition to his six-year sentence, McFarland was subject to a $26 million federal forfeiture order for victim restitution.
In March 2022, when McFarland was released from prison after serving four years of his six-year sentence, he and Falb allegedly began asking Taylor for cash and racking up thousands of dollars in charges on Taylor’s credit card for purchases they According to them, they were business expenses. the complaint says. He also alleges that Taylor was “directed” to “make several purchases on Amazon.com for the benefit of” McFarland.
Participants at the Fyre Festival in the Bahamas. An attendee said he paid for a two-bedroom villa, but instead was given a tent with a wet bed.
The complaint further states that McFarland and Falk asked Taylor to deliver sums of cash to McFarland’s home in Brooklyn, which were used “for personal expenses, not business expenses.” The Amazon purchases and cash allegedly amounted to about $30,000.
According to the complaint, there were also $543,172 worth of wire transfers, as well as Venmo transactions, credit card charges and about $15,000 in cryptographic transfers, some directed to McFarland and others to third parties. In total, the complaint alleges, McFarland used about $650,000 intended for business expenses for personal expenses.
Taylor told The Post through his attorney that he tried to resolve the dispute with McFarland without success.
At the disastrous Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, participants were promised a luxury event, but were served cheese sandwiches and handed damp tents. AP McFarland at the Fyre Festival. ZUMAPRESS.com
Russo said McFarland repeatedly refused to return funds provided by his client as a short-term loan between June and August 2022.
“Basically, it’s a breach of contract,” Russo said. “Billy broke any commitment he had made to Jon quite quickly, Jon asked for the funds back and they refused.”
McFarland’s attorney, Harlan Protass, said in a statement: “This is a completely baseless and meritless lawsuit, which incorporates a long list of lies. The truth is quite simple: PYRT did not want to do business with a child predator and convicted drug addict like Jonathan Taylor. We tried several times to refund Jon’s money, but his attorneys remained silent despite our repeated attempts to contact them. “Despite the lawsuit, we still remain open to an agreement.”
In an interview with Taylor on Wednesday, he told The Post that he believed McFarland was using the cash he gave him for business expenses. “Now I feel like an idiot,” she said.
While in prison, Billy McFarland created a 50-page plan to revive the Fyre Festival. fyrefestival2.com
In 2017, Fyre Festival was promoted as a luxury music festival in the Bahamas, advertised by influencers and models including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski.
The disastrous event went viral after participants posted photos of cheese sandwiches in Styrofoam containers and tents blown by the wind. The disaster spawned documentaries on Hulu and Netflix: “Fyre Fraud” and “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” respectively.
Earlier this month, McFarland hosted Fyre Festival 2 at an airfield in Orange County, New York, with zero-gravity flights. Performers included Bobby Shmurda, Sleepy Hallow and Capella Grey. He told The Post that 75 participants attended the event.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn