Billy McFarland, co-creator of the infamous Fyre Festival, has been released from prison two years early.
The 2017 festival was billed as an exclusive, high-end event in the Bahamas with top music acts, luxury accommodation and stunning views - and thousands of people paid a cumulative total of tens of millions of dollars for the experience.
The reality proved much different, however, with conditions compared to those of a refugee camp, while there was torrential weather and no music acts - events which were documented in the highly popular Netflix film Fyre.
The festival was cancelled on day one of the event and McFarland fled the island with many bills still unpaid, but in March 2018, having been apprehended and charged, he was sentenced to six years behind bars for fraud.
The 31-year-old was released to a halfway house in New York on Wednesday, however, due to what his lawyer described as "good time credit".
A statement said: "At this time, Billy is relieved to be out of prison and looking forward to working with a team of people we are putting together to formulate plans to begin paying the restitution back to those affected.
"Billy's primary concern and focus at this time is making restitution and fulfilling the promises made."
McFarland will remain in the halfway house until August 30.
Neil Wilkes
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