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Fyre Festival attendees hoping to get $7,220 payouts as a part of a class action settlement will see their awards slashed to just $280, according to documents recently filed in bankruptcy court.
Bankruptcy Trustee Gregory Messer, who charged with sorting out claims by Fyre Festival attendees, as well as investors, businesses, and other organizations seeking payment after the ill-fated event, said in court documents first reported by the New York Post that he has only been able to recoup $1.4 million during the proceedings. The lion’s share, $1.1 million, will go to legal fees, leaving only $300,000 to be distributed to Fyre Festival attendees and other creditors who are seeking $7 million in bankruptcy court.
In 2017, founder Billy McFarland and other organizers of the Fyre Festival were hit with a class action lawsuit by an angry festival-goer who claimed the event that was promoted as a “posh, island-based music festival” turned out to be more like “Lord of the Flies” or “The Hunger Games” than the popular California music festival Coachella.
The class action lawsuit and other litigation filed against Fire Festival organizers, including demands for a $7.5 million judgment against founder McFarland, wound their way through the court system and, in April 2021, the parties proffered a $2 million settlement agreement. The proposed class action settlement would have netted Fyre Festival attendees, who paid thousands and even hundreds of thousands for tickets to the disastrous event, a $7,220 award.
At the same time, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in an attempt to reimburse investors, creditors, and other entities who lost money in the Fyre Festival debacle. The Fyre Festival class action settlement agreement was included in these proceedings and the results are not looking good for those who fell for organizers’ slick and misleading ads.
The now infamous Fyre Festival was founded and organized by Jeffrey Atkins (aka the rapper Ja Rule) and McFarland. It was 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, touting luxury accommodations, gourmet food, and a big-name music festival, all held on a private island once owned by Pablo Escobar.
Fyre Festival organizers allegedly failed to take practical an necessary steps to actually make the event happen in the months prior, but continued to promote and earn millions from it with social media influencers such as Kendal Jenner urging people to attend. When the Fyre Festival dates arrived, attendees said that they were greeted with emergency FEMA shelters, cheese sandwich rations, and no musical acts in sight.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Fyre Festival settlement agreement may prove to be a similarly disappointing experience as the event itself as attendees see their class action rebate reduced by more than 96 percent in bankruptcy court.
Are you a Fyre Festival attendee? What do you think of the reduction in the class action settlement award? Tell us in the comment section below!
The lead plaintiffs and Class Members are 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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