Two years after pleading guilty to fraud charges stemming from his organizing role in the well-known catastrophe Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland’s lawyer told the New York Times Friday that the former entrepreneur has allegedly been put in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day following the release of the trailer for his new podcast, recorded while he serves his six-year sentence.
The podcast, titled Dumpster Fyre, features host Jordan Harbinger interviewing McFarland on the phone from prison about his actions leading up to the notorious music festival in 2017. Per his lawyer, McFarland could remain in solitary confinement for up to 90 days while the Federal Bureau of Prisons conducts an “unspecified investigation.”
“We believe the investigation stems from his participation in the podcast and the photographs that were taken and utilized in the trailer, which were all properly taken,” attorney Jason Russo told the Times. “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’s cellmate, Russo alleges, has also been put in solitary confinement after taking part in the podcast.
While McFarland is currently imprisoned in FCI Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio, he was at one point placed in solitary confinement for three months in a different facility for having a flash drive, an experience he describes in the first episode of Dumpster Fyre. The Times points to Ear Hustle out of San Quentin State Prison and Uncuffed from NPR’s KALW as other podcasts produced by and featuring interviews with people currently in prison.
