It’s the end of Fyre Festival once and for all, artists settle lawsuit

The festival that fraudulently duped the music community’s most gullible travelers and clout chasers is now coming to its final end. A Fyre Festival lawsuit has been settled between the event’s financial investors (plaintiffs) and the slated artists (defendants), all of whom never even performed at the 2017 third world event masquerading as a luxurious “all expenses paid” getaway. The lawsuit sought the return of $2.8 million paid to the artists and their representation, including Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Nue Agency.

In December 2019, litigator Gregory Messer launched 14 lawsuits against Fyre Festival in losses for the event’s creditors and investors who were fleeced in the operation. Messer and the defendants have now settled for $360,000 in returns. The bulk of the funds returned came from Paradigm Talent Agency (PTA), which represents Major Lazer and Disclosure, who were paid to perform at the 2017 festival that frauded thousands of poor millenials. Of the $1.5 million paid to Paradigm’s artists, $225,000 has been returned.

Headliners Blink-182 were called out in the suit as having been paid $500,000 for their booking before canceling on Twitter upon learning about the calamitous situation abroad. As the lawsuit claims, the band allegedly had retained the entirety of those funds despite their last-minute cancellation. Their representation at CAA must return $135,000 of that total figure as part of the settlement.

Three years after the Fyre disaster took place, Fyre Festival fraud has yielded a $26 million bankruptcy pricetag. Fyre’s founder and serial fraudster Billy McFarland is currently serving out a six-year sentence for wire fraud. US Marshals also seized Fyre’s merchandise assets earlier this summer to auction off in order to reimburse victims. 

Via: Billboard.