Fyre Fest Attendees to Receive $7,200 Each After Class Action Settlement
Nearly four years after infamous fest, 277 ticket holders reach settlement with Fyre trustee
Billy McFarland, the promoter of the failed Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, leaves federal court after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges, Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in New York. He faces a sentence of 8 to 10 years. Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP Images
Almost four years after the organizers of the disastrous Fyre Festival were hit with class action lawsuits, a settlement has been reached between organizers and 277 attendees of the instantly infamous fest.
Billboard reports that the lawyers representing ticket holders and the trustee charged with Fyre’s assets reached a settlement where each of the victims in the class action lawsuit will receive $7,220, although that figure could be lower depending on Fyre’s bankruptcy case with other creditors.
A vote to approve the class action lawsuit settlement will take place May 13th.
“It’s a small but significant step for ticket holders who were defrauded and had their lives up ended as a result of the fraudulent conduct by [Fyre founder Billy] McFarland,” Ben Meiselas, partner at Geragos & Geragos and lead attorney for the class-action representing the ticket holders, told Billboard.
It was lawyer Mark Geragos who filed the initial $100 class action lawsuit against McFarland and his Fyre co-founder Ja Rule in May 2017, just days after the doomed festival stranded thousands of attendees in the Bahamas.
“Shockingly, Defendants had been aware for months that their festival was dangerously under-equipped and posed a serious danger to anyone in attendance,” the class-action lawsuit stated. A second class action lawsuit was filed against McFarland just two days later.
In July 2018, McFarland — currently serving a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud charges — was previously ordered to pay $5 million as part of a lawsuit filed by a pair of plaintiffs who paid for Fyre’s $13,000 VIP package.
From Rolling Stone US.
