Fyre Festival Ticket Holders Want $7.5M From Event Founder

A proposed Class of Fyre Festival ticket holders have asked a federal judge in New York to order the ill-fated festival’s founder to pay them $7.5 million.

Plaintiff Daniel Jung claims he and members of the proposed Class were injured by defendant William McFarland’s fraudulent advertisement of the festival as “a luxurious event with premium accommodations.”

Jung asked the Court for a default judgment against William McFarland for the order and said it was proper because McFarland “has willfully failed to respond to the Operative Complaint in any way despite being properly served with it.”

Jung first filed his class action complaint against McFarland in California in April 2017 after it became apparent that Fyre Festival was not going to happen as advertised.

Jeffrey Atkins (more commonly known as rapper Ja Rule) and McFarland founded and organized Fyre Festival, which they marketed as a luxurious, celebrity-endorsed music festival. After McFarland and Atkins retained Grant Margolin, they began promoting Fyre Festival in December 2016 using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other online platforms.

The defendants advertised the festival as “an event that would be defined by exclusive culinary experiences, celebrity performers, luxurious accommodations, and copious activity options,” according to Jung’s complaint.

In addition to the regular marketing efforts, Ja Rule also promoted Fyre Festival on his personal social media accounts.

On April 26, 2017, the day before the festival was supposed to begin, Ja Rule posted a tweet that said: “The stage is set!!! In less than 24 hours the first annual fyrefestival begins #festivallife . . . .” However, Ja rule allegedly knew by that time the festival performers had either canceled or been told by the defendants not to attend.

Ja Rule allegedly had been working with the Bahamian government to obtain a site for Fyre Festival, and knew months before the event’s planned start date “there was no infrastructure for the site and it was unsuitable and unsafe for the planned event,” Jung’s complaint says.

The event itself was to be held over two weekends and was supposed to be a massive cultural event.

Many celebrities and bands had reportedly signed on to appear: Pusha T, Tyga, Major Lazer, Blink-182, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski among others, according to Jung’s complaint. A secluded stage was planned with “a sunrise-to-sunset lineup” of electronic and deep house music.

The festival site was supposed to feature “incredible beaches and waters” on a private island once owned by Pablo Escobar, the complaint said. Would-be festival attendees were told they’d be able to meet and pet domesticated sharks.

The defendants also promised a luxury hotel existed at the site, according to Jung’s complaint. Other luxury offerings promised were morning yoga sessions, a spa; two restaurants serving Bahamian cuisine and a private boat shuttle to pristine white sand beaches.

However, despite all these promises, “the festival was cancelled, no concert took place, and only the barest of food and accommodations were provided such that the health and safety of Fyre Festival attendees were jeopardized,” Jung says in his complaint.

Jung claims in addition to all these failures, attendees who made it to the site were virtually trapped. They had relied on the defendants to provide transportation and had not brought cash because Fyre Festival had been promoted as a cashless event that would use “a preloaded electronic payment system,” the complaint says. Festivalgoers were unable to find transportation away from the site, making them more or less trapped.

Jung’s original case was subsequently transferred to New York District Court and was ultimately consolidated with several related actions in March 2018.

On March 26, 2020, Jung obtained a Certificate of Default against McFarland because McFarland failed to plead or defend in this action within the required time period.

The Court on May 18, 2020, ordered Jung to file a Motion for Default Judgment by June 19, 2020.

The proposed Class includes “all persons who purchased tickets to and/or made travel arrangements in connection with Fyre Festival.”

The individual members of the proposed Class have relatively small damages, the memo states. Therefore, unless Jung’s civil action proceeds on a Class basis, numerous people will be unable to recoup damages suffered as a result of McFarland’s fraud.

Jung’s most recent memorandum requests that the Court enter a default judgment against McFarland $7.5 million, certify this action as a class action with Jung as the Class representative and grant any further relief the Court deems proper. 

Did you plan to attend Fyre Festival? Tell us your experience in the comments.

Jung is represented by Benjamin J. Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos APC.

The Fyre Festival Class Action Lawsuits are In re: Fyre Festival Litigation, Case No. 1:17-cv-03296, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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