The trustee in the Fyre Festival bankruptcy case filed a series of lawsuits Wednesday seeking to claw back funds for investors in the doomed island concert.
In one lawsuit, the trustee seeks the return of $500,000 that was paid to Blink-182, which was supposed to headline the event. The trustee also wants Kendall Jenner to return $275,000 that she received in exchange for doing an Instagram post to promote the festival. A third suit was filed against model Emily Ratajkowski, seeking $300,000 that she was paid for an Instagram post.
The suit alleges that the transfers were part of organizer Billy McFarland’s scheme to defraud investors, and therefore should be voided. The suits also accuse Ratajkowski and Jenner of demonstrating a “clear lack of good faith,” because they did not disclose that they were paid for their posts.
“Nor did they 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,” the suits allege.
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Several agencies — CAA, UTA and ICM Partners — are also named as defendants. CAA represents Blink-182, as well as several other acts that were to appear at the festival, including Claptone, Bedouin and Burridge. In total, the suit seeks to hold CAA jointly liable for the return of $585,000. ICM represents Lil Yachty, Migos and Rae Sremmurd, and the trustee is seeking the return of $350,000 in payments made through ICM to those acts. The trustee also wants $90,000 that was paid to Skepta through UTA.
The trustee also sued Nue Agency, seeking $730,000 that was paid to Pusha T, Desiigner and Tyga, and Yaron Lavi, the festival director, seeking $315,000. Other suits were filed against various vendors that worked with the festival, including a yacht company, a ticketing company, and a catering company.
McFarland pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges last year, and is serving a six-year prison term. He is also on the hook for $26 million in restitution.
The Fyre Festival trustee is also seeking to void the transfer of $14.4 million from the festival company to Fyre Media, its parent company. Of that figure, the trustee alleges that $11 million was transferred to McFarland. During that period, the trustee claims that McFarland spent $315,645.87 on his personal expenses, including his luxury penthouse, hotel stays, dining, entertainment and clothing.