Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland requests early release from prison due to the coronavirus

Remember Fyre Festival? Of course you do; you haven't been able to look at a bottle of Evian in the same way ever since. None of us have.

From the initial Instagram hype and the shambles of the (non) event to the subsequent documentaries and the ultimate imprisonment of its founder Billy McFarland, the Fyre Festival scandal was the saga that just kept on giving. And the next instalment has just landed. Billy McFarland has requested to leave prison. According to recent reports, McFarland has cited health concerns as grounds for early release from Elkton Correctional Institute where he is currently serving a six-year sentence for two counts of wire fraud. It has been reported locally that a number of inmates and staff members at the low security facility in Ohio have contracted Covid-19 and representatives for McFarland have argued that their client's pre-existing health conditions make him vulnerable to the virus. According to The Wrap, McFarland's representatives cited 'asthma, extreme allergies and heart issues' as grounds for early release and argued that the 28-year-old does not pose a threat to society. "Mr. McFarland is not a risk to the community nor a threat to public safety. The crime to which he pled guilty for was the non-violent financial crime of wire fraud. However, he is a low risk of recidivism for such financial crimes as he has explained that he has a supportive family that has attested to providing for his basic needs." In the request which was made to New York Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, McFarland's lawyers reportedly added that their client was among consideration as a candidate for home confinement as of next year. McFarland, who was initially charged in 2017, pled guilty to both charges in March 2018.