Fyre Festival Fraud (Billy McFarland) | Mental Health & Personality — Transcript

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1. 0:00Lois's dr. Grande today's question asks
2. 0:02what are the mental health and
3. 0:03personality factors at work with the
4. 0:05fire festival so this festival was a
5. 0:08fraud that was the subject of a
6. 0:10documentary on Netflix called the
7. 0:13greatest party that never happened
8. 0:15it's really a great example of
9. 0:16infectious narcissism just a reminder
10. 0:19not diagnosing anybody in this video
11. 0:21only speculating about what could be
12. 0:24happening in a situation like this if
13. 0:26you enjoyed this content please like
14. 0:27this video subscribe to my channel and
15. 0:30consider supporting me on patreon I'll
16. 0:32put the link to patreon in the
17. 0:34description for this video so at the
18. 0:36fire festival I'll first look at the
19. 0:38timeline and then the mental health and
20. 0:40personality factors one of the key
21. 0:41figures in this case is a man named
22. 0:43Billy
23. 0:44McFarland he was born in 1991 he had
24. 0:48grown up in New Jersey where his parents
25. 0:49owned a real estate development company
26. 0:52he graduated from high school in 2010
27. 0:54and attended college only to drop out
28. 0:57before finishing a year he claimed that
29. 0:59he was a successful serial entrepreneur
30. 1:02in 2013 he used a million and a half
31. 1:06dollars of investment capital to start a
32. 1:09company called Magnus's he also started
33. 1:12a company called fire media and 2015 he
34. 1:15and a musical artist named Jeffrey
35. 1:17Atkins his stage name is ja Rule teamed
36. 1:21up in Magni sis and fire media Magnus's
37. 1:24was supposed to be some type of credit
38. 1:26card company that was invitation only so
39. 1:29it was supposed to be exclusive
40. 1:30ostensibly the card gave cardholders
41. 1:33access to VIP events and exclusive
42. 1:37restaurants things like that
43. 1:38interestingly the credit card itself
44. 1:40simply had a duplicate of the magnetic
45. 1:42strip from the clients original credit
46. 1:44card so essentially the company was just
47. 1:46charging a membership fee to have this
48. 1:48particular card without really any other
49. 1:51benefits that were supposed to be other
50. 1:52benefits but they didn't deliver and
51. 1:54people started leaving the company after
52. 1:57this mcfarland and atkins switched their
53. 1:59attention to fire media fire media
54. 2:02ostensibly had developed this app that
55. 2:05was supposed to connect people with
56. 2:06musical talent like if somebody wanted
57. 2:09to hire a musical talent for a birthday
58. 2:11reception or just because they felt like
59. 2:13it
60. 2:13so as a way to reach these so-called
61. 2:16celebrities and pay for them to attend
62. 2:18events they wanted to promote this app
63. 2:21with a music festival evidently these
64. 2:24two were in a private plane in the
65. 2:25Bahamas and they made an emergency
66. 2:27landing on to a private island it had
67. 2:30once been owned by Carlos Rivas who was
68. 2:33a leader in the Medellin Cartel
69. 2:35which was notorious due to Pablo Escobar
70. 2:38they somehow came to believe or at least
71. 2:40they promoted the idea that Pablo
72. 2:42Escobar had once owned that Island but
73. 2:46that was not true they leased the island
74. 2:48and started planning the fire festival
75. 2:50the festival was planned for late April
76. 2:53and early May of 2017
77. 2:55they had models come out to the island
78. 2:57and they produced a promotional video
79. 2:59the owners of the island told them not
80. 3:02to use Pablo Escobar's name when
81. 3:05marketing the festival they did this
82. 3:07anyway and they lost the lease they
83. 3:10eventually found a new location roker
84. 3:12point which was a part of an island
85. 3:14named Great Exuma McFarlane made it seem
86. 3:17that this was really the same Island he
87. 3:19had promotional materials made which
88. 3:21made it appear as though Roker Point was
89. 3:24its own Island and not simply part of a
90. 3:27larger Island in December 2016 a number
91. 3:30of so-called social influencers posted
92. 3:33this orange square on Instagram that
93. 3:36connected to the promotional video
94. 3:38McFarlane rented an expensive office in
95. 3:41Manhattan and started looking for help
96. 3:43on how to launch this festival he really
97. 3:45had no idea how to plan an event like
98. 3:47this he soon realized that planning a
99. 3:50music festival is actually fairly
100. 3:51expensive so we see this effort of
101. 3:54cutting corners that lasted all the way
102. 3:57until the event started undaunted by
103. 3:59reality MacFarlane started selling
104. 4:02tickets that ranged from $500 all the
105. 4:05way up to a quarter million dollars now
106. 4:07some sources say the highest price for
107. 4:08ticket was $12,000 it's not really clear
108. 4:11how many tickets above that price he
109. 4:14actually sold many of the people who
110. 4:16worked for McFarlane realized that the
111. 4:18event was impossible to execute in the
112. 4:21time frame available and with the
113. 4:23resources available yet McFarlane kept
114. 4:25selling tickets
115. 4:27he kept over-promising the nature and
116. 4:29the quality of the accommodations he
117. 4:32also booked musical talent to perform at
118. 4:34the festival and the weeks leading up to
119. 4:36the event multiple media outlets started
120. 4:39posting pieces questioning how well the
121. 4:42fire festival organizers were planning
122. 4:44the event logistically the fraud started
123. 4:47to unravel one of the musical acts
124. 4:49pulled out vendors were demanding
125. 4:52payment and event organizers had opted
126. 4:54acceptance on the island to accommodate
127. 4:56the guests these were tents meant to be
128. 4:59used in an emergency not as normal
129. 5:02accommodations throughout the planning
130. 5:04stages MacFarlane attempted to attract
131. 5:06investment capital by saying that fire
132. 5:08media was worth 90 million dollars he
133. 5:11also said that Magnus's that other
134. 5:13company he owned sold for 40 million
135. 5:16dollars but neither of these were true
136. 5:19desperate for cash and seeing everything
137. 5:21falling apart MacFarlane was able to get
138. 5:23a loan and he had his organizers send
139. 5:25out emails to the guests saying that the
140. 5:28event would be cashless telling them
141. 5:30they had to add money to these accounts
142. 5:32so essentially the guests would have
143. 5:35these RFID bracelets that would be used
144. 5:38to buy things during the event even
145. 5:40though the Wi-Fi service on that island
146. 5:42could not support this he was able to
147. 5:44squeeze another two million dollars from
148. 5:46these people who had already bought
149. 5:48expensive tickets for this event the
150. 5:50night before the start of the festival
151. 5:52it rained on the island which soaked the
152. 5:55mattresses inside the tents when the
153. 5:58first plane landed full of festival
154. 5:59goers on April 28th 2017 the utter
155. 6:03incompetence of the organizers was
156. 6:05exposed immediately the first wave of
157. 6:07guests were brought to this restaurant
158. 6:09but eventually they had to take them to
159. 6:11the test
160. 6:12nothing was ready there was not enough
161. 6:14food there were limited medical services
162. 6:16improper lighting the camping sites were
163. 6:19not prepared correctly everything fell
164. 6:22apart the event was cancelled by the
165. 6:24organizers and people attempted to make
166. 6:26their way back to Miami Florida
167. 6:28many of the festival goers were
168. 6:30significantly delayed fire media put out
169. 6:33a statement on their website saying that
170. 6:35the physical infrastructure was not in
171. 6:37place for the festival due to
172. 6:39circumstances out of the
173. 6:40control later in the statement they
174. 6:42called what happened an unforeseeable
175. 6:44situation so evidently unbridled
176. 6:47confidence arrogance illogical thought
177. 6:49and a lack of any discernible cognitive
178. 6:52reasoning skills our circumstances out
179. 6:54of their control I wonder what they
180. 6:56would consider in their control
181. 6:58McFarlane dismissed the failure by
182. 7:00saying bad weather caused the problem
183. 7:02and the organizers were a little naive
184. 7:04so the people working for him a criminal
185. 7:07investigation was started a number of
186. 7:09civil suits were filed McFarland was
187. 7:12arrested in June 2017 for wire fraud he
188. 7:16was released on bail at which time he
189. 7:18started engaging in another fraud he was
190. 7:21selling VIP tickets that were not real
191. 7:24he was charged with this as well and
192. 7:26eventually pleaded guilty to both counts
193. 7:29he was sentenced to six years in prison
194. 7:30by this time he had cost investors over
195. 7:3326 million dollars now moving to the
196. 7:36mental health and personality factors we
197. 7:39see the impact of these factors all over
198. 7:41the place in this fire festival on the
199. 7:44side of perpetrating the fraud those
200. 7:47that went along with the festival even
201. 7:48though they knew it was impossible those
202. 7:51who invested and in some cases those who
203. 7:54attended now for those who actually
204. 7:56perpetrated the fraud it's been disputed
205. 7:58how many people were actually guilty in
206. 8:00this case I don't know specifically what
207. 8:02was going on with Billy McFarlane but
208. 8:04what could be going on in a situation
209. 8:06like this well here we see behavior
210. 8:08consistent with a con artist I'll go
211. 8:11through a few of the characteristics
212. 8:12here believing oneself to be special or
213. 8:15unique requiring admiration and being
214. 8:17condescending this connects with the
215. 8:19whole VIP access social influencer
216. 8:22celebrities are important nonsense his
217. 8:25quote revealed what he thought of the
218. 8:27population he was stealing from he said
219. 8:30we're selling a pipedream to your
220. 8:32average loser
221. 8:33I wonder if McFarlane would now
222. 8:35categorize himself as an exceptional
223. 8:38loser we see fantasies of success and
224. 8:41power we get the sense that McFarlane
225. 8:43actually believed he could have been
226. 8:45successful with this festival like he
227. 8:48didn't want to accept reality we see a
228. 8:51lot of deception McFarlane repeated
229. 8:54we lied to investors the public and his
230. 8:57employees there is superficial charm and
231. 9:00a tendency to manipulate many of his
232. 9:02employees and associates reported that
233. 9:03he was really convincing they believed
234. 9:06that he really believed he could pull
235. 9:08this off
236. 9:09they had faith in him we see a focus on
237. 9:12appearances this is a key attribute of a
238. 9:15con artist they understand the value of
239. 9:17appearing polished and top-notch
240. 9:21McFarlane rented an extremely expensive
241. 9:23space for his business he wanted to have
242. 9:26the festival on this island his
243. 9:28marketing materials were refined he paid
244. 9:31models to be in the promotional video
245. 9:33the use of models really epitomizes this
246. 9:37fraud in one sense they have outer
247. 9:39beauty but that's not necessarily
248. 9:41related to any inner substance there is
249. 9:44a great deal of criminality evident here
250. 9:46even if one wanted to believe that
251. 9:47McFarlane just got in over his head with
252. 9:50this festival it doesn't explain why he
253. 9:52committed fraud before this and after
254. 9:55this again he committed fraud while out
255. 9:58on bail which is typically a bad
256. 10:00strategy for avoiding prison this brings
257. 10:02me to my last item being arrogant in a
258. 10:05Netflix documentary we see McFarlane
259. 10:07video record himself committing those
260. 10:09crimes when he was on bail so what about
261. 10:11the other people involved in this well
262. 10:13the investor should have known better
263. 10:15for the most part due diligence is
264. 10:17required when investing money some of
265. 10:19the attendees should have known as well
266. 10:21as there was significant warning signs
267. 10:23but I think many of them were just
268. 10:25victims of fraud they were shown this
269. 10:27flashy video and all these marketing
270. 10:29materials and they really didn't have
271. 10:31any reason to doubt that it was a
272. 10:33legitimate festival as far as his
273. 10:35co-workers and employees I think would
274. 10:37happen with many of them is they needed
275. 10:39to believe McFarlane they wanted to be
276. 10:42part of something great they wanted to
277. 10:44tell their children and grandchildren
278. 10:45about how they were a key organizer in
279. 10:48this amazing fire festival even when the
280. 10:50evidence of fraud was indisputable they
281. 10:52found a way to believe it's interesting
282. 10:54in the documentary we see somebody
283. 10:57comparing the situation to Woodstock so
284. 11:00again it kind of connects this idea that
285. 11:02they thought they were part of something
286. 11:03really amazing that would be remembered
287. 11:06as a culturally
288. 11:08important event they were manipulated by
289. 11:10McFarlane's phrases like have a positive
290. 11:12attitude and we need to find solutions
291. 11:14they thought themselves as talented and
292. 11:17top-notch in their industry it sounds
293. 11:20like they were listening to McFarland
294. 11:21instead of evaluating the situation
295. 11:23logically I didn't see evidence of
296. 11:25talent throughout the interviews in this
297. 11:27documentary the documentary really
298. 11:29showed how McFarland entered a world of
299. 11:32narcissist and easily took their money
300. 11:35he used their tancy to maintain false
301. 11:37beliefs against them for example the
302. 11:40Tennessee to believe that celebrities
303. 11:41are somehow special or appearances
304. 11:44matter or for that matter how putting
305. 11:46oneself above others is a practical way
306. 11:48to get ahead he was really selling the
307. 11:51ability to be special hanging around
308. 11:53special people makes a person special in
309. 11:55this world of narcissism this type of
310. 11:57thinking really enabled the fraud people
311. 11:59saw mcfarland hanging around these
312. 12:01so-called celebrities and they believed
313. 12:04he must be great to be in that position
314. 12:05they wanted to be great too
315. 12:08the irony here is that mcfarland
316. 12:09understood the power of narcissism it
317. 12:12was his whole business model narcissism
318. 12:14fuelled decision-making he did this
319. 12:17without demonstrating any insight about
320. 12:19himself so we see this shallow world
321. 12:22without substance where everybody
322. 12:24believes they're special despite the
323. 12:26weight of the evidence instead of the
324. 12:28fire festival they created the no
325. 12:30critical thinking skills island another
326. 12:32thing i found interesting was how these
327. 12:34celebrities and organizers always had
328. 12:37cameras on them they wanted everything
329. 12:39that they did to be memorialized which
330. 12:42shows a tragic lack of insight they were
331. 12:45revealing something to the world but it
332. 12:47was not what they intended there are
333. 12:49some interesting quotes from this
334. 12:50documentary as well in the statement
335. 12:53released by fire media after the event
336. 12:55was canceled they said fire festival set
337. 12:57out to be a once-in-a-lifetime musical
338. 12:59experience i think they accomplished
339. 13:01this goal except for the word musical we
340. 13:04see again after the festival failed
341. 13:07jeffrey atkins said it's not a fraud
342. 13:10it's false advertising evidently atkins
343. 13:13had just read the hand out how to
344. 13:14confess to a crime while believing her
345. 13:17innocent now of course to be fair at the
346. 13:19time making this video atkins and many
347. 13:22other people who were involved have not
348. 13:24been charged with any crime so the
349. 13:27prevailing thought now at least as far
350. 13:29as the criminal justice system is
351. 13:30concerned is that McFarland was the only
352. 13:33one criminally responsible and some
353. 13:36other people may be civilly responsible
354. 13:37but again we don't see any connection to
355. 13:40many people who may have had something
356. 13:43to do with it the last point I'll cover
357. 13:45here is about McFarland's behavior after
358. 13:48the festival failed when he was
359. 13:50committing crimes on bail he committed
360. 13:52another felony at that time a lot of the
361. 13:55time when we see somebody punished for a
362. 13:56crime some people will say they really
363. 13:59deserve another chance because they're
364. 14:02not really a criminal they just did
365. 14:04something bad they're not a bad person
366. 14:06right separating the action from the
367. 14:08person and I agree with this for the
368. 14:10most part but sometimes a person isn't
369. 14:13ready to be rehabilitated
370. 14:16right so when somebody just commits a
371. 14:19series of felonies like McFarland did
372. 14:21and then they go and commit another
373. 14:24felony that really makes one question
374. 14:26whether that person was really ready to
375. 14:28be a productive member of society
376. 14:31was there any remorse really we didn't
377. 14:34see any thing like remorse in that
378. 14:37recording he made again of himself
379. 14:39committing a felony so I think a
380. 14:41six-year prison sentences fair
381. 14:42considering he really seemed to have
382. 14:44this mentality like this was all a game
383. 14:46right everyone else was a loser in his
384. 14:50estimation and he should be entitled to
385. 14:53steal from them that will just kind of
386. 14:56laughing having a good time taking their
387. 14:58money just showing absolutely no
388. 15:00ownership whatsoever
389. 15:01so those are my thoughts about the fire
390. 15:03festival please put any opinions and
391. 15:05thoughts in the comments section they
392. 15:06always generate an interesting dialogue
393. 15:08as always I hope you found my analysis
394. 15:10of this topic to be interesting thanks
395. 15:12for watching