Billy McFarland Is Out of Jail and Ready for His Next Move

“Obviously, he’s got a lot of work ahead of him,” Mr. Russo said.

At least for now, Mr. McFarland has abandoned the idea of writing his memoir.

“The book’s not going to pay the restitution, let me put it that way,” he said.

So what will?

“I’d like to do something tech-based,” he said a few minutes later, walking to BKLYN Blend, where he ordered an egg sandwich and a coffee. “The good thing with tech is that people are so forward-thinking, and they’re more apt at taking risk.

“If I worked in finance, I think it would be harder to get back,” he continued. “Tech is more open. And the way I failed is totally wrong, but in a certain sense, failure is OK in entrepreneurship.”

Seated at a quiet table in the corner — no one at the coffee shop appeared to recognize him — Mr. McFarland mulled whether he’d prefer to work for himself or someone else. “At the end of the day, I think I could probably create the most value by building some sort of tech product,” he said. “Whether that’s within a company or by starting my own company, I’m open to both. I’ll probably decide in the next couple of weeks which path to go do.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/fashion/billy-mcfarland-release.html