Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Blink-182 and Migos are among the models and musicians being sued by the trustee in the Fyre Festival bankruptcy case.
The series of lawsuits, which were filed Wednesday in the US Bankruptcy Court in New York, are aimed at retrieving as much money as possible for investors of the disastrous Fyre Festival, which had been marketed as a luxury music festival in The Bahamas.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the trustee is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars which were paid to the various musical acts and models who were scheduled to appear during the April 2017 festival.
Kendall Jenner (left) and Emily Ratajowski (right) are named in lawsuits filed by the Fyre Festival trustee, who is seeking the return of the money they were paid to promote the festival
The trustee also filed lawsuits asking for the return of money paid to performers, including Blink-182 (drummer Travis Barker at left) and Migos (member Offset at right)
The April 2017 Fyre Festival was marketed as a luxury music festival in The Bahamas
Intended headline act, Blink-182, is being sued for the return of $500,000, while Jenner is being asked to give back the $275,000 she received for putting up an Instagram post promoting the festival. Ratajkowski, meanwhile, is being pursued for the $300,000 she received for her Instagram post.
Multiple lawsuits were also filed against the talent agencies who represent other music acts who were scheduled to appear at the festival, according to Variety. They were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were then supposedly distributed to the artists who were set to appear on stage.
The trustee is seeking back the $585,000 paid to CAA, which represents Blink-182, as well as Claptone, Bedouin and Lee Burridge, while ICM is being asked to return $350,000 paid to Lil Yachty, Migos and Rae Sremmurd.
UTA, meanwhile, is being sued for the return of $90,000 which was paid to Skepta, while Nue Agency, which represents Pusha T, Desiigner and Tyga, is on the hook for $730,000.
The Fyre Festival was promoted by models and was expected to have a star-studded lineup
The festival was actually a disaster as festival-goers discovered once they arrived at the island
The luxury accommodations they were promised wound up being hastily constructed tents
Festival goers likened the promised luxury festival environment to being at a refugee camp
This was among the food said to have been served to ticket holders at Fyre Festival
Also named in the lawsuits are festival director Yaron Lavi, who is being asked for the return of the $315,000 he was paid.
Additional lawsuits were said to have been filed against vendors that were involved with the festival, including a yacht company, a ticketing company and a catering company.
The lawsuits claims that the money transferred to the music acts and celebrities should be returned because the funds were all part of Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland’s plan to defraud festival investors.
McFarland pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is currently serving six years in jail. He has also been ordered by the court to repay more than $26 million in restitution.
The Fyre Festival trustee’s lawsuits also included talent agencies, who were paid hundreds of thousands to be given to performers including Lil Yachty (left) and Pusha-T (right)
The Fyre Festival was promoted by Ja Rule (left) and Billy McFarland (right), seen in 2017
Ja Rule (left) and McFarland (right) are seen here in a behind-the-scenes picture from the Netflix documentary, Fyre
Models Ratajkowski and Jenner were also accused in the lawsuits of having shown a ‘clear lack of good faith’ in the festival because they failed to show that they were remunerated for their Instagram posts and they also neglected to ‘inform their fans and followers that they ultimately decided not to attend the Festival because of problems with the Festival of which they and their agencies were uniquely aware’.
Blink-182 pulled out of the Fyre festival shortly before it started, claiming that the band was concerned about the festival organizers’ ability to meet their production requirement needs, according to NME.
By the time the band tweeted that it had pulled out of the appearance, however, many fans had already arrived on the island.
The trustee is also seeking a return of $14.4 million which had been transferred from the festival company to parent company, Fyre Media. According to the lawsuit, $11million of that sum was transferred to McFarland, who is said to have spent more than $315,600 on personal expenses, such as luxury penthouse hotel bills, dining, entertainment and clothing.
The Fyre Festival was promoted by McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, but went disastrously wrong as the island itself didn’t have the infrastructure to support the partygoers, who were stranded with nowhere to sleep and barely anything to eat.
It was the subject of two documentaries on Hulu and Netflix, which premiered in January 2019.