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Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland Begs for No Jail, Gets Support from Producer Ryan Leslie

Home / The Law / Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland Begs for No Jail, Gets Support from Producer Ryan Leslie

By TheBlast Staff on June 6, 2018 at 11:44 PM EDT

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland is begging for a judge to give him house arrest instead of jail, and he's getting support from a powerful music producer.

According to documents obtained by The Blast, McFarland filed a sentencing memorandum laying out a case for why he feels he doesn't deserve jail time.

McFarland says he was only 24-years-old when he was in charge of the infamous Fyre Festival, and admits that although his intentions were good it was too much to handle. He says that his lack of skills, education, resources or maturity contributed to the failed event.

He now claims to have a deep sense of remorse for the way the festival went down.

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McFarland now has some heavy hitters in his corner, music producer Ryan Leslie wrote a letter to the judge arguing that the court should not throw the book at McFarland. He says that the guy is just a young entrepreneur and he should not be punished for taking a measured risk and failing.

He's also using an ADHD diagnosis to gain sympathy with the judge, claiming the symptoms he suffers on a daily basis are very taxing.

McFarland says he has no criminal record, has cooperated with the Feds since the beginning and even plead guilty to the charges. He had numerous family members and friends write letters, along with Leslie's, to the judge in support of him

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McFarland is proposing 6 months of home confinement or a "minimal" period of incarceration, 1,000 hours community service and three years probation. He's also already agreed to pay back 26 million in restitution.

His sentencing is set to go down later this month, where the 27-year-old is facing 40 years in prison.

The prosecutors have yet to submit their sentencing submission.

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