Was Anna Delvey Involved in the Fyre Festival Scam? She Definitely Knew Billy McFarland

Now that people have been watching Inventing Anna on Netflix, more people than ever are curious to know about the life of Anna Delvey, aka Anna Sorokin. Some people think she's a talented scam artist who was able to con New York’s wealthiest individuals and businesses out of millions of dollars.

Other people have a softer opinion of her and consider her to be a wistful young woman who got in over her head in the midst of trying to create a brighter future for herself. Interestingly enough, one of the episodes of Inventing Anna showcases her interaction with Billy McFarland. He's the fraudster behind the ill-fated Fyre Festival. Were Anna and Billy friends with each other? How was she connected to Fyre Festival?

Billy began planning the Fyre Festival at the same time Anna was weaving her way through New York City swindling banks, hotels, businesses, and friends out of huge chunks of change. In Inventing Anna, Billy and Anna interact and even live together for a short period of time. In real life, Anna and Billy most certainly knew each other. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been invited to stay with him!

Anna and Billy are both extremely smooth when it comes to swindling other people out of money, so they might've been able to strike up a friendship based on their similarities. In Episode 4 of Inventing Anna, Billy mentions to her that he’s planning to call his event Fyre Festival with a "Y" instead of an "I." She seemingly mocks him for his idea in a playful manner.

For those who need a refresher course on just how horrible Fyre Festival really was, it was one of the biggest scandals of 2017. According to BBC, attendees bought tickets that cost upwards of $1,200 apiece and VIP packages for as much as $12,000. Guests were promised a two-weekend luxury Bahamas getaway, but instead, they arrived to utter chaos. There were no musical acts, barely any food was available, and there were only a small number of disaster relief tents to sleep in for protection from the elements.

According to Page Six, Billy was most definitely scammed by Anna before the Fyre Festival incident occurred. We already know she stayed with him for a short period of time, but how long did she actually stay there? She was living in the SoHo headquarters for his “business” Magnises for four whole months … entirely rent-free. As soon as Anna got comfortable getting to know someone, she also got comfortable calling in favors.

She asked someone on Billy's team if she could stay for a few days, but a few days turned into months, and she simply wouldn’t leave. According to a source, Billy hinted to her that he was ready for her to move out, but she made it clear she had no intention of packing her things.

The only way they were able to get rid of her is by moving the company headquarters to a different location –– and not providing her the new address.