Fyre Festival Founder Billy McFarland Released From Prison to Halfway House
Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was released from prison on Wednesday (March 18) and is now living in a halfway house in New York.
McFarland has been released from the Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, where he was being held, according to the Bureau of Prisons website and confirmed by his attorney Jason Russo. He is now under the management of Residential Reentry Management New York — the administrative office overseeing halfway houses located in southern New York, eastern New York and New Jersey. TMZ first reported the news.
McFarland’s release date from the halfway house is currently set for Aug. 30.
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In 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting to defrauding investors in the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival, which was promised to be a luxury destination music event with extravagant promotion from A-list celebrity influencers. But when ticket-holders showed up to the Exuma island in The Bahamas, they found the event they were promised was totally unrealized. McFarland also pleaded guilty to charges in a later ticket-selling scam.
In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, McFarland through his lawyers requested a compassionate release from prison, claiming he was “particularly vulnerable” to COVID-19. That request was denied, and months later he told press he had contracted the virus.
Russo says that McFarland is now solely focused on repaying the roughly $26 million he owes in restitution for his crimes — “what’s the best way to generate income to pay this restitution back and make amends,” Russo noted.
“Any new projects that he does become involved in will be done solely for the purpose of generating the restitution for paying back his victims,” said Russo.
