Nearly six months after landing in solitary confinement for giving a podcast interview, Fyre Festival scammer Billy McFarland has been released and transferred to another prison.
"He's got his freedom back," McFarland's attorney, Jason Russo, told Insider Friday.
The Bureau of Prisons database of locations for people incarcerated in federal prisons shows 29-year-old McFarland was transferred to FTC Oklahoma City, a different facility than the FCI Elkton prison in Lisbon, Ohio, where he was held in solitary confinement.
McFarland became notorious when he hosted Fyre Festival in 2017. With tickets costing thousands of dollars, McFarland promised plush villas and top-of-the-line music acts on a beautiful island. Instead, attendees were greeted with FEMA-like tents, pre-packaged sandwiches, and no scheduled music acts.
McFarland was convicted on fraud charges in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison. He spent some time at FCI Otisville in upstate New York — along with Michael Cohen and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino — before being transferred to FCI Elkton.
Festival attendees came to a proposed settlement on Thursday where they'd get more than $7,200 each from Fyre's remaining assets.
In October, McFarland talked about his experiences in a podcast hosted by Jordan Harbinger called "Dumpster Fyre." Podcasting from prison is not uncommon: The podcast "Ear Hustle" from incarcerated people in San Quentin prison was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
McFarland was punished for participating in the podcast, Russo said. The lawyer said McFarland received what are called "administrative charges" that allow prison administrators to punish incarcerated people over the various actions he took to do the interview.
"It was punitive. At first, they said he violated rules by speaking to the media — which there is no such rule," Russo said. "Then they accused him of doing three-way calls, which you're not allowed to do — but these were not three-way calls."
The prison also brought administrative charges against McFarland over photos of himself that were posted to an Instagram account claiming to be managed by "Billy's team," according to Russo. McFarland's attorney said he doesn't know who's behind the Instagram account, but that incarcerated people are permitted to take photos with disposable cameras sold in the prison commissary and share them.
"Every picture that was sent out was taken with a commissary camera and approved to be distributed" by the Bureau of Prisons, Russo said.
Russo told Insider all of the administrative charges against his client were dropped except for one: McFarland violated a rule that forbids incarcerated people from sharing commissary funds. For that, his lawyer said he was put into solitary confinement for 90 days.
"It's a bulls--- thing," Russo said.
Prison administrators then extended the length of McFarland's confinement, Russo said, but it was terminated once his transfer was granted.
Representatives for the Bureau of Prisons didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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