Fyre Festival Founder Billy McFarland Given 6-Year Prison Sentence
“Mr. McFarland has been dishonest most of his life.”
Last year, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was arrested for his role in the now-infamous Bahamas debacle. Now, following his recent guilty plea, the 27-year-old has been sentenced.
Appearing in a Manhattan federal court earlier today, McFarland received a six-year prison sentence as punishment for two counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors originally looked to hand him a 15-year sentence, while his lawyer urged the judge to be lenient due to the “mental illnesses” he allegedly suffers from; according to his legal representatives, that affliction gave him delusions of “fame and fortune.”
“Today, McFarland found out the hard way that empty promises don’t lead to jet-setting, champagne and extravagant parties – they lead to federal prison,” shared US Attorney for Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman.
“The defendant is a serial fraudster and to date his fraud, like a circle, has no end,”Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said upon sentencing. “Mr. McFarland has been dishonest most of his life.”
McFarland called the sentence an “extremely bitter reality.”
