A Fyre Festival lawsuit between the infamous event’s organizers and their scheduled performers, including Major Lazer and Disclosure, has been settled.
In December 2019, Gregory Messer, a litigation trustee, launched 14 lawsuits against Fyre Festival’s partners in a bid to recoup losses for the event’s creditors and investors who were fleeced in the operation. The lawsuit sought the return of $2.8 million in expenses paid to the artists and their representation, including Creative Artists Agency and Nue Agency. Messer and the defendants have now settled with a total of $360,000 in expenses returned.
The bulk of the funds returned came from Paradigm Talent Agency, which represents Major Lazer and Disclosure, who were slated to perform at the calamitous 2017 festival that never happened. Paradigm’s artists were paid $1.5 million and have returned $225,000.
Headliners Blink-182 were called out in the suit as having been paid $500,000 for their booking before the band cancelled on the gig via Twitter. However, the suit alleged that they had retained the entirety of those funds despite their cancellation. Their representation at CAA have retuned $135,000 as part of the settlement.
The historic disaster of the Fyre Fest debacle has yielded a $26 million bankruptcy and new developments continue to occur, now three years after the failed venture was set to take place. Earlier this summer, US Marshals seized Fyre’s merchandise assets for auction in an effort to reimburse victims.
Fyre’s founder Billy McFarland is currently serving a six-year sentence for wire fraud.
Source: Billboard
