After the massive disaster that was Ja Rule and Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival this past weekend, here’s some news we all saw coming: the festival is now facing a class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Daniel Jung, who reportedly shelled out $2,000 for a ticket to the event as well as airfare to the festival. The lead attorney is celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, who has represented big names from the music industry including Chris Brown and Kesha.
The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, names alleged fraud, breach of covenant of good faith, breach of contract, and negligent misrepresentation.
The size of the suit is still to be determined, as the final number of event ticket holders who have been affected by the event cancellation is still to be confirmed. However, damages are currently estimated to be at $100 million and since the filing, “conservatively over 1,000 people have inquired at the office, ranging from people who quit working for the organization to people who were stranded there to people who had gone all the way to Florida and could not get from Florida to [the Bahamas].”
Ben Meislas, another attorney on the lawsuit, tweeted an official statement on the suit yesterday as well.
#fyrefestival official Statement. pic.twitter.com/O8HMGqnvLg
— Ben Meiselas (@meiselasb) May 1, 2017
In another development posted today, Vanity Fair also obtained the pitch deck for the festival which, interestingly enough, points out that Fyre was given $8.4 million of “market value land on Black Point, Exuma in exchange for hosting the festival and advertising the island.” This continues to open up a number of questions on the motives behind the festival organizers.