The trustee in the Fyre Festival bankruptcy case has filed a number of lawsuits attempting to regain funds for investors, alleging that the transfers were part of organiser Billy McFarland’s plan to defraud investors and should, as such, be voided.
As Variety reports, agencies such as CAA, UTA and ICM Partners have been named as defendants, with the trustee seeking the return of $500,000 USD that was paid to Blink-182, who were scheduled to headline the event. CAA represents Blink, and the trustee is seeking to hold the agency jointly liable for the return of $585,000.
ICM represents acts like Lil Yachty, Migos and Rae Sremmurd, all of whom were also scheduled to perform at the doomed island festival, and the trustee is seeking the return of $350,000 in payments made through ICM to those artists.
The trustee also wants the return of funds models such as Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski were paid in exchange for promoting the event through Instagram, to the tune of around $300,000. The lawsuits accuse Jenner and Ratajkowski of displaying a “clear lack of good faith” by not disclosing they were paid for the posts, nor informing fans and followers that they had decided not to attend the festival.
Other suits were filed against various entities that worked with the festival, such as yacht, ticketing and catering companies.
Festival organiser McFarland is currently serving a six-year prison term after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges in 2018 over the event, also potentially liable for $26 million in restitution payments.
The trustee is seeking to void the transfer of $14.4 million to parent company Fyre Media – $11 million of which was allegedly transferred to McFarland, who the trustee is claiming spent $315,645 on personal expenses like a “luxury penthouse, hotel stays, dining, entertainment and clothing.”
Next week, Andy King, of Fyre Fest-fellatio fame per his role in Netflix’s documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, will appear as a guest speaker at Bigsound in Brisbane.
