Fyre Festival promoter's podcast lands him in solitary confinement

NEW YORK (NY TIMES) - Billy McFarland, the disgraced entrepreneur behind the notorious Fyre Festival and a current federal inmate, has been placed in solitary confinement after he participated in a newly released podcast about his crimes.

McFarland, 28, who is serving six years for fraud in an Ohio prison, can be heard discussing his various high jinks and their aftermath in detail from a prison phone on a show titled Dumpster Fyre, which premiered Tuesday.

According to McFarland's lawyer, he has been in 23-hour-a-day solitary confinement since last week, after a trailer for the podcast was released online. He may remain there for up to 90 days or more, pending an unspecified investigation by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

"We believe the investigation stems from his participation in the podcast and the photographs that were taken and utilised in the trailer, which were all properly taken," said the lawyer, Mr Jason Russo.

"We don't believe he's violated any rule or regulation, and there can't possibly be anything else. He's been a model prisoner there."

McFarland is currently being held at FCI Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio, where Mr Russo said that inmates there are permitted to use the phones, and that all calls are recorded and screened by the prison.

As for the photos of McFarland inside, which have been posted to an Instagram account that bills itself as being "managed by Billy's team", Mr Russo said that inmates are permitted to use disposable cameras to take photos, and that those, too, are screened before they can be kept or mailed out.

Podcasting from within prison is not unheard of. Ear Hustle, produced at San Quentin State Prison, was created in 2017 by an inmate at the time, along with the help of an outside volunteer, while Uncuffed also tells the stories of people incarcerated in California from the inside.

On the first episode of Dumpster Fyre, in which McFarland is interviewed by podcaster Jordan Harbinger, he says that the inspiration for the podcast came last year, during his previous three-month stint in solitary, which he called a "much-needed confrontation with reality" and the "hardest but most impactful period of my life".

"Solitary led to this forced reflection on my mistakes and the people I hurt," McFarland said, noting that any proceeds he earned from Dumpster Fyre would go toward the US$26 million (S$35 million) in restitution he owes his victims.

"The first thing I need to do is take responsibility for all of my actions," he said, promising to follow "all the rules" and give "complete transparency".

The Fyre Festival, which was the subject of duelling documentaries last year, was supposed to be a luxury music festival with glamorous accommodations and top-tier talent, but never happened after guests arrived to find a shambolic set-up on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas in April 2017.

While out on bail after initially pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud, McFarland was charged with two additional counts of fraud related to a new company that prosecutors said sold fake tickets to fashion, music and sports events and was said to have cost at least 30 victims a minimum of about US$150,000.

On the podcast, McFarland said: "I was desperate and thought I could dig myself out of the hole."

He is currently scheduled to be released on Aug 30, 2023, according to his lawyer.