The hits just keep coming for Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland, who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for defrauding investors and would-be concertgoers in the now-infamous 2017 scandal that has since been the subject of two separate documentaries. McFarland has been paying off his debt to society in a minimum-security federal correctional facility in Otisville, New York, just 70 miles northwest of Manhattan, which is known for housing “celebrity” criminals such as Trump fixer Michael Cohen and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from Jersey Shore.
That is about to change however, after McFarland was reportedly busted with a contraband recording device over the summer, according to The Daily Beast. Because as it turns out, prison officials tend to take that thing pretty seriously, and have now decided to transfer to a higher security prison. In the meantime, the failed investor has been biding his time in solitary confinement in the prison’s SHU (special housing unit):
Federal inmates are prohibited from possessing electronic devices or cellphones in prison, which are categorized among the “greatest severity level prohibited acts” such as killing, assault, and escaping, according to the Bureau of Prisons website. Those found to be flouting the rules face a host of penalties ranging from losing their earned statutory “good time,” segregation, a fine, and a change of housing.
In other McFarland news, it would seem as though things are not going great with the autobiographic novel he’s writing about the scandal from behind bars. The Daily Beast also spoke with Josh Raab, a freelance editor who was consulted about working on the book (tentatively to be titled PROMYTHTYUS: THE GOD OF FYRE) who was, uh, not enthusiastic about the project.
“It was going to be a roller coaster of how Billy got to where he was,” said Raab, who eventually concluded that the so-called cook was just another of McFarland’s scams:
“I thought the most interesting thing was the fact he had written 100 pages on a kindergarten scheme to sell crayons,” Raab said. “One of the things I seemed to be tasked with was telling Billy that can’t be in the book.
“I told him the public doesn’t need a book to know you’re a fucking idiot. This will have to be a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. You need to come to terms with what you did.”
Yet, McFarland still seems passionate about his book, relaying in a message: “Most of all, I hope my story entertains, teaches, warns, and inspires, while providing restitution to my former team and also to the incredible people of the Bahamas.” If nothing else, it can’t be argued that the whole thing wasn’t entertaining — for everyone else, anyway.
(Via Daily Beast)