Fyre Festival Faces More Litigation from Angry Ticketholders

Two North Carolina would-be attendees of the doomed Fyre Festival are seeking compensation for what they say was a colossal fraud.

Plaintiffs Emily and Kenneth Reel are seeking compensation for the thousands of dollars that they and purported Class Members spent in reliance on promises that the defendants’ Fyre Festival would be a once-in-a-lifetime music event.

Instead, the lawsuit claims attendees arrived at the festival to find themselves trapped on an island with barely any services, no ready way to leave, and no festival to speak of.

The Reels allege the defendants Jeffrey Atkins, also known as the rapper Ja Rule, and Billy McFarland spent months promoting Fyre Festival as an ultra-exclusive, ultra-luxurious music festival to be hosted over two consecutive weekends on a private island in the Bahamas.

Promotional materials for Fyre Festival promised luxurious accommodations and food prepared by celebrity chefs. Attendees were promised a chance to party with an “all star cast of performers, models, influencers, and thought leaders,” according to the Reels.

All that attendees would have to do would be to arrange for travel and accommodations in Miami before and after the weekend, and the festival staff would take care of everything else, the Reels were told.

Kenneth Reel says he spotted social media posts advertising the Fyre Festival in December 2016. Relying on those posts and other promotional materials, he and Emily booked a two-bed reservation with a VIP upgrade at a total cost of $4,599.84.

But as the date for the Fyre Festival approached, the Reels say they got word bit by bit that plans for the festival were changing substantially. Kenneth sent the promoters an email requesting a refund, but that request went ignored, he says.

The Reels then booked a room at a hotel on the island at a cost of $1,040, they claim. But when Kenneth arrived in Miami, the couple says, he got word that Fyre Festival was completely and officially shut down.

Attendees who arrived on the island found scant evidence of any organization at all. No electricity, wifi or sanitation services were available. In place of the promised “luxury domes,” attendees were offered accommodations in what some described as “FEMA tents.”

With no celebrity chefs to be found, the menu consisted of plain cheese sandwiches and sides of pasta or salad, according to this Fyre Festival class action lawsuit. First Aid stations were equipped with only “boxes, chairs and a water cooler” and no medical staff, according to the Reels.

The Fyre Festival promoters allegedly knew for months in advance that they were completely unprepared to provide the festival they had promised to ticketholders, according to the Reels. The promoters allegedly gave advance notice to performers and their public relations staff that the festival was a no-go and advised them not to show up.

Ticket purchasers got no such warning, the Reels claim. At the same time they were warding off performers and staff, the defendants allegedly kept promoting the festival and sold more and more ticket packages.

The Reels’ Fyre Festival class action lawsuit is one of at least three similar claims already filed over the collapsed event. Ticket holder Daniel Jung filed his own Fyre Festival class action lawsuit days earlier, seeking damages in excess of $100 million on behalf of himself and other disappointed ticket purchasers.

The Reels are proposing to represent a plaintiff Class covering “[a]ll persons or entities that purchased a Fyre Festival 2017 ticket or package or that attended, or planned to attend, Fyre Festival 2017.”

They seek an award of actual damages, treble damages under North Carolina law, court costs and attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the court sees fit to grant.

The Reels are represented by attorneys Jeffrey A. Backman and Rachel E. Walker of Greenspoon Marder PA and by Chad E. Levy of Law Offices of Levy & Levy PA.

The Fyre Festival Fraud Class Action Lawsuit is Kenneth Reel and Emily Reel v. Billy McFarland, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-21683, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

UPDATE: On July 27, 2017, duped ticketholders who shelled out thousands of dollars to attend the failed Fyre Festival asked a federal court to centralize their class action lawsuits in California, New York or Florida.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 28, 2019, Instagram influencers such as Kendall Jenner may be subpoenaed in a Fyre Festival bankruptcy case following a recent court order.

UPDATE 3: On July 10, 2019, a federal judge dismissed claims against rapper Ja Rule and Fyre CMO Grant Margolin in a class action lawsuit filed by Fyre Festival attendees who claim that the infamous festival was not the luxury experience that was advertised.

UPDATE 4: On June 19, 2020, 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.