The young entrepreneur tapped rapper Ja Rule to craft the perfect event to lure millennials with lots of disposable income — ticket packages ranged from $1,500 to $250,000 — and active Instagram feeds.

Blink-182, Disclosure, Kaytranada, Migos, Rae Sremmurd, Tyga, Desiigner, Pusha T., Major Lazer and two dozen other acts were booked; more than $1 million in jewelry, cash and other goodies would be up for grabs in a treasure hunt; and organizers got Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and a bevy of supermodels to promote the festival.

Yet guests arrived to find facilities unfinished, mass disorganization, no luggage, no beer, food better suited for a children’s sleep-away camp and the cancellation of Blink-182’s appearance. Other artists — some of whom hadn’t been paid — pulled out right after.

The plush villas that had been promised were actually the same type of tents that the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses to provide shelter in disaster areas. Shipping containers were strewn about the property and there wasn’t a single item for purchase at the on-site general store. Inbound flights were canceled because there were too many people on the island, and many guests trying to leave found themselves stranded and sought aid from the U.S. Embassy.

“It looked like the set of ‘Outbreak.’ There were hundreds of tents. Beds everywhere. Nothing was finished,” attendee William Finley, whose real-time documentation of the chaos went viral, told The Times. “We figured it was for [general-admission ticket holders]. It would be crazy to treat people who paid the most like this.”

Shortly after Fyre’s collapse last year, McFarland was arrested on charges that he defrauded investors who sank $1.2 million into two companies associated with the ill-fated event, and more than a dozen lawsuits alleging fraud, breach of contract and other claims were filed against him.

In March, he pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud over the Fyre scheme, which resulted in $24 million in losses, and in July he pleaded guilty to two more counts of fraud related to a different company he ran that sold counterfeit tickets to concerts and events like Coachella, Burning Man and the Super Bowl.

The fake ticket company, NYC VIP Access, sold $150,000 worth of tickets to 30 people, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

McFarland was facing a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The judge, who called McFarland a “serial fraudster,” ruled the promoter may serve his sentences concurrently. He will face an additional three years of supervised release and has been ordered to forfeit more than $26 million.

(Excerpt) Read more in: Los Angeles Times