On Wednesday afternoon, reports began surfacing that Billy McFarland has apparently been freed from federal prison and possibly transferred to a halfway house. That’s big news, because originally, as part of the six-year prison sentence levied against him back in 2018, he had been expected to spend at least one more year behind bars.

Related: Revolve Apologizes For Fyre Festival-Esque Coachella Event: ‘We Promise To Do Better’

TMZ was the first to report McFarland’s alleged release, claiming on Wednesday afternoon that he was sprung from federal prison at the very end of March. Since then, he was apparently transferred to “community confinement,” although the outlet notes that is is “unclear” whether that means he’s at home in some type of probationary situation, or living at a halfway house.

Regardless, they report that the Fyre Festival fraudster is “expected to stay” in community confinement at least through the end of August. Like we noted up top, it’s a big jump for McFarland, considering his original release date had been August 30, 2023, per Bureau of Prisons records obtained by A&E.

That outlet notes that the controversial festival pusher had previously served time at federal prisons in New York, Oklahoma, and Ohio. In fact, it was in Ohio — at the Elton Federal Correctional Institution in the city of Lisbon — where McFarland contracted COVID-19 back in April of 2020. At the time, he petitioned the Bureau of Prisons for a compassionate release on medical grounds due to the pandemic, but he was denied.

More recently, McFarland had been serving time at the Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, which is a little ways southwest of Detroit and due south of Ann Arbor. It appears that McFarland may have been released from that facility.

Related: Fans Compare Met Gala Menu To The Fyre Festival’s Food Offerings… OUCH!

Of course, McFarland rose to infamy after the notoriously-miserable failure of the 2017 Fyre Festival in the Bahamas. At the time, the massively-failed event left hundreds of festival goers stranded in broken-down tents, sharing meager and unappetizing food instead of what had been billed as a week-long luxurious festival experience.

When federal prosecutors came after McFarland following the failed fest, he pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud, and was handed down his six-year prison sentence. While he was in the clink, Billy even drew the attention of fellow inmate and Jersey Shore star Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino. What an experience for all involved…

In the years since, McFarland’s festival failure has been referenced and pilloried repeatedly on social media. Both Netflix and Hulu got into the act with dueling documentaries on the incident, as well.

Now, we’re left to wonder: what’s McFarland’s take on Ja Rule‘s previous plans to re-up on new Fyre Festival planning???

[Image via Bloomberg/YouTube]