How do you know that it was almost-definitely illegal?
If you have $150 for the application fee and the insurance, you can apply to fly within the city. You request up to 5 flight locations per permit.
If you want to skip the tweet from Ice Barbie, the actual press release can be read here. I wonder how much of the $115 million allocated for this will end up at the Strategy Group? It wouldn't be the first time that happened.