Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland owes the IRS $7million in back taxes as well as $26million in restitution to victims of doomed event - but vows 2.0 will happen

Disgraced Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland owes the IRS $7 million in back taxes, on top of a further $26 million owed to the victims of the festival.

The 32-year-old told The U.S. Sun in an exclusive interview that still hopes for a second iteration of the festival, despite the mountain of debt he is dealing with. 

McFarland spent four years in prison for his part in defrauding investors into the failed music, having originally being sentenced to six years behind bars. 

According to the outlet, McFarland is also paying back $6,887,435 in back taxes to the IRS. 

He told the Sun: 'There's restitution, there's taxes, there's everything from the pre-Fyre days that we're working on.'

In this March 6, 2018 file photo, Billy McFarland, the promoter of the failed Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, leaves federal court after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges in New York

Fyre festival was cancelled on its opening day, leaving people stuck on the island without many basic amenities

According to the 32-year-old, he is also living a more frugal lifestyle these days and is hopeful Fyre Festival 2 will help his financial woes

He added: 'When I was in prison, I got a debit card form to pay like $7 million - in jail. I joked, where am I supposed to grab my debit card out of here with a $7 million bill?

'Restitution is around $26 million. And I pay that every month, so whatever I earn I go and literally give a physical check or pay online. 

'Then there are various other people who are involved in Fyre one that I'm paying back on a monthly basis as well.'

Despite the high figures, McFarland tells the outlet: 'It's all just numbers at this point.'

According to the 32-year-old, he is also living a more frugal lifestyle these days and is hopeful Fyre Festival 2 will help his financial woes. 

McFarland added: '[Fyre Festival 2] 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.'

Last year he claimed that the first run of tickets for the festival had already sold out, with the event slated to take place in December of this year. 

McFarland attends ONE.1 Hosts Dinner to Celebrate the Opening of the Magnises Townhouse at Magnises, 22 Greenwich Ave on March 6, 2014 in New York City

The event faced heavy criticism, with people arriving on the island of Great Exuma to find much less than they had anticipated

Guests of the festival were left without places to stay or put their luggage and when the festival was canceled on day one, they were stranded

McFarland was at the center of two different documentaries produced by Netflix and Hulu in 2019

McFarland was convicted of fraud in 2018 after selling 8000 tickets - with price tags between $1,000 - $12,000 - to the original botched Fyre Festival. 

It was cancelled on its opening day, leaving people stuck on the island without many basic amenities. 

One year later, McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison, in addition to being ordered to pay back roughly $26million to his investors.

He was also barred from ever serving either as an officer or director of a public company after tricking investors by altering a stock ownership statement to inflate the number of shares he purportedly owned in a publicly traded company to make it appear he could personally guarantee the investment.

McFarland was released in March 2022. It took him just over a year to announce Fyre Festival II.

Ticket holders, who thought they were heading to a 'luxury music festival' held on Pablo Escobar's former private island, were actually lured to a catastrophic event mired in issues with everything from food to accommodation.

Guests - who paid as much as $13,000 for luxury packages - were left stranded, with unfinished shelter, no transportation, and no food aside from cheese sandwiches served out of polystyrene boxes, images of which quickly went viral.

McFarland attends The 23rd Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit & Auction at The Watermill Center on July 30, 2016 in Water Mill, NY

Guests - who paid as much as $13,000 for luxury packages - were left with no food aside from cheese sandwiches served out of styrofoam boxes, images of which quickly went viral

The initial Fyre Festival had seen McFarland team up with rapper Ja Rule to draw millions in investments, with the promise of putting on a first-of-its-kind luxury music festival event in the Bahamas with models, DJs, luxury dwellings and extravagant meals.

McFarland paid the likes of Kendall Jenner to promote the event on Instagram who blasted promo content to lure people into buying tickets at thousands of dollars each.

But the event faced heavy criticism, with people arriving on the island of Great Exuma to find much less than they had anticipated.

Court documents described the scene as 'total disorganization and chaos.' The 'luxury accommodations' were FEMA disaster relief tents, the 'gourmet food' was barely passable cheese sandwiches served in styrofoam containers and the 'hottest musical acts' were nowhere to be seen.

McFarland was the founder and CEO of Fyre Media, launched in 2016, which set out to build an app that would allow individuals organizing big events to bid for artist and celeb bookings.