Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland Has Been Released From Prison Early

Billy McFarland, the organiser behind the infamous Fyre Festival, has been released from prison early.

McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud, but as Billboard reports he has been released early and is living in a halfway house in New York until August 30.

McFarland’s attorney Jason Russo claims he intends to repay the roughly US$26 million he owes in restitution for his crimes.

“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,” Russo said.

His release follows a failed request in 2020 when his lawyers sought a compassionate release due to the pandemic.

The controversial Bahamas-based "luxury" event, where punters paid as much as $12,000 for tickets, was scheduled to go down across two weekends in April and May in 2017 with headliners blink-182, Lil Yachty and more.

However, it was cancelled shortly after kicking off as the set-up had not been completed.

McFarland was accused of presenting investors with fake documents that convinced some to contribute more than US$1 million.

McFarland also reportedly budgeted for a $US160,000 yacht for blink-182 (who eventually pulled out of the gig due to concerns about the festival), but did not budget for the festival punters. 

The event served out cold cheese sandwiches and provided partially-constructed tents.

Fyre Festival producer Andy King gave a keynote at BIGSOUND 2019, discussing the failed event, becoming a meme overnight thanks to the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and more with The Music in the lead up to the event. You can read the full interview here.