Fyre Festival lawsuits settled with Major Lazer, Disclosure, more returning fees

A number of lawsuits between Fyre Festival and artists scheduled to perform at the Bahamas festival have been settled.

Last year, a trustee overseeing the Fyre Festival bankruptcy filed 14 lawsuits in a bid to reclaim fees from a number of artists and models who promoted, or were scheduled to perform at, the doomed 2017 festival. Those being sued included Blink-182, Major Lazer, and Disclosure, with the trustee demanding each returned the fees paid for playing or promoting the event.

Now, according to a report from Billboard, trustee Gregory Messer has collected a fraction of the monies owed, recieving $360,000 of the $2.8million paid out to artists ahead of the event. The report also states that Paradigm artists, which includes the likes of Major Lazer and Disclosure, received $1.5 million from Fyre Festival back in 2017, and have now returned $225,000, with other funds returned from Pusha T and Tyga.

The lawsuits argued that because the fees were paid as part of Fyre founder Billy McFarland’s investment scam, the transfers should be voided. 

By now the story of Fyre is a familiar one, having been told across documentaries on Netflix and Hulu. Seth Rogan is currently working on a Fyre Festival spoof movie. And Billy McFarland, the serial fraudster behind the event, is currently serving a six-year sentence in prison for fraud. He also claims there will be a second edition of Fyre Festival. McFarland launched the event in the Bahamas with the help of Ja Rule. However, earlier this year a court concluded that Ja Rule would not be held responsible for his part in the event.