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You're on with Mario Lopez. It's

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up here on with Mario Lopez. Joined me now in studio

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from both the Netflix and Hulu documentaries

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about Fire Festival. Seth Crossno

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and his attorney Stacy Miller.

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Welcome to the show, gentlemen. How you doing great?

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Man, Thanks for having us, Thanks for coming by.

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North Carolina's right right like it out

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here in l A. Yeah, it's beautiful. Well

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it's it's it's nice. And then what you attended

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over there at the Fire Festival, at least

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it looks that way. So, Seth, what were

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you expecting when you got there? Man, Well,

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we thought it would be you know, what was

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advertised, you know, and we had

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purchased a lodge. Who's wish my

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friend Mark and I. So this is all Mark's idea.

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He taught me into it, and I went to kind

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of parody the influencer kind of angle.

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I'm a comedy writer and so I thought

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this would be funny. But I still thought we'd get

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what was advertised. And so when

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we showed up and saw you know, the

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tents and the Amazon boxes and mattresses

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everywhere, that was not what what

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we expected at all. How long were you there

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before you realized what was going on, probably

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about half an hour, because

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really, once we got to

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the to the main house,

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I'm thinking, well, our lodges around

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the corner, you know, maybe they're still setting up, Like the

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festival starts officially tomorrow,

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so maybe this is just like last

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minute prep or something, and maybe right

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around the corner our stuff will be ready. And and that

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was not the case. So wow,

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And you're a comedy writer, you said,

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you said so in a weird way. Doesn't

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that provide a lot more material for you? It did?

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And then so it's kind of sort of

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a blessing in disguise. Yes, it was.

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So how did you How long were you

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there? And how how did you men eventually make

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it back? So we got there probably five

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or six on Thursday evening, made

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it back to Miami by bottle eleven o'clock

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Friday morning. Oh is you're lucky?

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Yeah? Yeah, we didn't have to spend the night

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on the festival site like some people did. We

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managed to get on the last flight out, which

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was a bunch of like on and off the plane and

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getting locked in the airport and all

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that fun stuff. When did you realize

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your social media posts were getting picked up by everyone

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around ten o'clock that evening,

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um, and I think it was because I just brought

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a ton of extra batteries because they

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had said, like, we'll have charging stations,

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and I'm like, all right, I probably need to bring some batteries

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smart So uh so I saw

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some things get you know, posted in Billboard

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and vice and stuff, and then throughout

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the night like CNN would pick it up and

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start calling you and stuff. And what was the first

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tweet? Do you remember? I think it

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was just so fire festivals

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that total like total chaos. Billy's

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standing on the table. It's a video of everybody

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looking at him like school bus driving by music

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blaring, So that must have been so

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like these What blew me away when I was

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watching it is that these

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guys knew that inevitably

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was going to be a disaster and hot mess. How did

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they expect that? They just think, you guys are gonna be cool

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once you got there, They get you enough liquor and be what

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what was like? Do you remember what were they were saying

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to what was Billy standing up there saying to you? Well,

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he he just kind of was answering

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one question after another. It's not like he kind

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of said to everybody like,

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this is an announcement, you know, I said, I thought, why

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didn't you just go up on stage and

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grab the microphone and say if you have a tent, go stand

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inline here if you need this or that, like a

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camp counselor could have done this, and so um.

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He didn't really say much, and you'd kind of walk up

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to him ask him a question, he'd answer,

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um. But he finally just yelled at

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everybody, if you have a lodge, just go get a

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tent. And that's when everybody kind of rushed to those

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tents that were set up and it just sort of

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turned into a free for all. And what were

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people saying? Just were they

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freaking out? Were they

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sort of in a state of shock walking around? A lot

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of people were just like, this is ridiculous. Is this

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thing even going on? And then once

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it got darker, that's when people start

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kind of getting in fights and yelling and

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you hear people crying and stuff, um,

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looting and pillaging and everything else going

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on. I mean, that's when it became dangerous. Well

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yeah, I bet and and and Stacy, why did

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you decide to go after Billy McFarland

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and the and the festival. Well, that's a good question. So I

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woke up one morning and my cell

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phone social media was just going to berserk.

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Seth had tagged me in a tweet and

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I've never heard of the Fire festival. I'd never

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heard of jar Roll, and so I called

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Seth. I was

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like, Seth, you know, he didn't know if he was joking

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at first, but that's all more of his

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social media post. I was like, oh, he might be in some

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trouble. So I called him and he was in the

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Bohemian airport. And immediately when he picked

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up the phone, I knew he was stressed out. And you could just tell

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him the tone of his voice. He was tired,

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hadn't eaton, was nervous. I

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was worried about getting out of the off

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the island, right, So we look, I got some friends in Miami.

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I went to law school for a year down there. You need

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some help, we can get you because no, I think I'm getting

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ready to fly out. And I said, when you get to

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Miami, called me. So he called

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me when he got to Miami. You were friendly before,

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Yeah, we knew each other. Yeah, absolutely,

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that's a good cliver. Yeah, and so he by

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the time he came back up to Raleigh, UM,

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the class action laws who had already been filed

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by Garrigos Is firm, and we had

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to make the decision whether we wanted to participate in

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that class action or file on individual

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case. And it sort of came up

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quickly apparent to me that that the

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first person across the finish line was

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going to be in the best shape, and so

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we opted not to participate, and

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we figured out a way to soothe them in North Carolina,

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and we got a verdict of five million dollars and

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so we were first. We're sitting first, which

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is very helpful. Yeah, congrats,

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thank you smart, well played gentlemen.

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Do you think you'll actually get any money from Billy?

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We do, Um, there's a lot of things we have

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found out. It's interestingly enough,

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during the course of this Netflix documentary,

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we have a lot of information. Um.

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We think we are going to satisfy that judgment um,

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hopefully soon. But we have to be sort of

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circumspect about how how we do that because

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there's a lot of other people circling around. I

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mean, comes down to it, I mean, honest gosh,

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this this Billy McFarland was like a millennial

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made off, right. He defrauded

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everybody, investors,

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the supermodels, the

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airline company, UM, a

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lot of the artists, the consumers,

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and the workers down there in the Bahamas,

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and so everybody he touched he defrauded.

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Did he have a history of this, He does

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have a history. He ran a company called mcneiceus

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UM, which was a bit of a scam, and

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so he you know, and then once he was arrested

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and indicted, UM, got

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out pending sentencing, and

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then turned around and did the same thing again, started

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another scam, started another scam. And

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it takes a special person to do that. Yeah, yeah,

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he dedicated, dedicated.

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Um, he's in prison at the moment, correct,

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what did He eventually get sentenced with six

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years from money laundering for money

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laundering and so he got twenty just under twenty

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seven million dollars uh with a

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fraud. And I think fortunate thing for him was

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he was prosecuted in the Southern

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District in New York. Made Off

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was prosecuted where a lot of the the

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Wall Street prosecuted,

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so those judges were used to see him. Big numbers had

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he been in the Middle District or the Eastern district of

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North Carolina, I can assure you he would

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have gotten more than six years. Really

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wow, And why

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has jahn rule avoided

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any sort of legal drama

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repercussions. We met

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with jar Roules lawyer, and

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we have come to the understanding

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to go on to other business opportunities.

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Ah

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okay, not said. Now,

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this is this is fascinating. You two have a podcast

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about the festival called dumpster Fire

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great titles, So so what

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what's the pot all about? So it originally

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I got back and I thought, well, let's

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just tell the stories of some of the other people that went

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and how they got involved and how they heard about it,

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and and then just

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things kept happening like this was before Billy had

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been charged and before Billy's second scam,

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and before we had the five million dollar verdict.

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And then I also filed, um, you

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know, a trademark for Fire festival, which is a whole

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another story. UM. So we're kind

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of chronicling all of these stories, UM

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and the fraud that Billy was you know,

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committing before, during, and

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after the festival, UM through

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the kind of dumpster Fire UM

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angle. Because the whole thing is a dumpster fire?

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Are you learning? Are continuing to learn

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about it? So you'll you'll interview somebody

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and they'll talk about a story they heard where Billy

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might be earning rental income

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off of property in this city and he might

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be doing this. So it's like, you know, we have to verify

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these stories before we go

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on record stating them. But you just learned

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so much talking to people kind of casually

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and off the record. So where has all the money

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gone from the festival? That's a good

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question. Um, we don't know the

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answer to that completely. I

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mean I had a fraud cases all the time,

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right, not every fraud case that handle involved

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supermodels were the Bahamas?

9:04

Right? But it's a sexy it's

9:06

a bit of a sexy fraud case. Yeah. But but

9:08

but fraudsters or you know, they sort

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of do the same things. You can sort of follow the money.

9:13

It takes you a little while the reason to

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believe there might be some money um off

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shore so to speak. Okay,

9:19

Um, does he face

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more repercussions when he gets out

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of or done with this sentence? Um?

9:28

Billy, We've heard through talking

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to some people that there are possibilities

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that the things that the bankruptcy attorney and

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the bankruptcy receivers are finding.

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There may be additional charges brought, but

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you know, we don't know from We

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can't speak on those, but there's I mean, it's

9:44

you know, like you mentioned, the Southern

9:46

District of New York does these

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huge, huge cases. And if this thing weren't

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just delivered on a platter on social media

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and through the reporting to work to her, Yeah,

9:56

it was just like, all right, why are fraud? This

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fraud? I mean, he could have had a lot more kind

10:00

of on his plate. But how much

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time you think we would have got in North Carolina? Well,

10:05

the guidelines I'd have to go back look at the federal gudlines.

10:07

But for the amount,

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I mean, he'd have been in twenty years or so. Look at that.

10:12

By the way, deserve that after all those

10:14

things, you know what I mean? Seriously, Um,

10:16

because I know you were in both fry Fest

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Ducks. Who do you think told the story better? I

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think the Netflix film told the story

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better of what happened. Um,

10:26

And it kind of was a I

10:29

prefer that film better, or prefer that

10:31

film? Um? The Hulu documentary,

10:33

Uh did go into the magnesia stuff a little bit more,

10:35

which was interesting. But that's part of what

10:38

we're covering on the podcast is there's a hole behind the

10:40

scenes there as to why Hulu put their's

10:42

out on the Monday before the Netflix

10:44

one came out when they originally wanted to do a multi

10:46

part series. So there's a lot of

10:48

stuff there, especially with both of them

10:50

being um involved with Billy,

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so you know who paid him? When did they

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all that come? And Billy was in the Hulu one.

10:58

Yes, he interviewed in the Hulu one and

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he denied everything. Yeah, it was pretty

11:03

much a wasted interview. You know. It's

11:05

just like kind of yeah, sort of associate

11:07

path just to get him there. Has this, uh

11:10

consumed the standback? What's

11:13

that? Has this? Has this consumed the standback?

11:15

Does it pretty much deal with

11:18

with this episode in your life? Um?

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What do you mean? Well, you said you were a comedian?

11:25

Correct? Oh? Oh yeah? Did I did I

11:27

hear that? Yeah? So I'm a sort

11:29

of comedy writer, set comedy writer. I'm sorry,

11:31

I I took it as a stand up

11:33

comment. Yeah, because

11:37

if you were a standard comedian, how great would that be? Right?

11:40

Okay, good, I'm gonna go clarity on that. All right, I

11:42

want to put you on the spot. Quick questions, quick answers.

11:44

Okay, go to karaoke song

11:48

and I guess they'd have to be something Jo Rule. There

11:51

you go a comedy writer. Favorite

11:54

Instagram follow Cheez

11:57

Stacy Miller, but I

11:59

do think give a fair enough

12:02

Probably dogs, a lot of good dog accounts

12:04

on there. Celebrity Crush, growing Up

12:07

man Um,

12:10

maybe Kelly Capowski. I guess good taste.

12:12

Yeah, last show you binge watched

12:16

restarted binge watching Game of Thrones

12:18

to get ready for just to get prepared, right.

12:21

I know a lot of people that have been done that lately, and

12:23

that's a commitment. I'm only on season

12:25

one TV. Favorite

12:29

Jo Rules song. He's

12:32

always on time because he never shot

12:34

up. Favorite music festival,

12:36

it's about to be fire festival. Well,

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you can check out the dumpster Fire wherever

12:42

you're Wherever you find podcasts,

12:44

you can follow them on Instagram at w n

12:46

F I V and at

12:49

Stacy Miller and c. All

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Right, gentlemen, thanks for stopping right

12:55

with Marie A little past