For the past few years now, Billy McFarland has been in prison. If the name’s not ringing a bell, he’s the guy behind the infamously disastrous Fyre Festival that led to him being convicted of fraud. In October 2018, he was sentenced to six years in prison. However, McFarland actually managed to get out of custody sooner than that.
NBC News reported yesterday that on March 30, McFarland was transferred to a low-security federal prison in Michigan before being placed in a New York City halfway house on May 18, according to the Bureau Of Prisons. He’s expected to stay there until August.
McFarland previously claimed that his poor Fyre Fest decisions were caused by mental illness: In 2018, before McFarland was sentenced, his lawyer wrote in a letter to US District Judge Naomi Buchwald, “Nothing in this case speaks to any malicious intent on his part. Just a sea of bad judgment, poor decisions, and the type of core instability that can only be explained by mental illness.” The letter also said McFarland has “delusional beliefs of having special and unique talents that will lead to fame and fortune.”
Coincidentally, Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical CEO also known for buying the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album, was also just released from prison early.
