Fyre Festival Organizers Accused of Fraud in $100M Class Action Suit

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

A $100 million proposed class-action lawsuit filed on Sunday accused the Fyre Festival and its organizers of fraud, alleging the music festival’s “lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees—suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions.”

The lawsuit, which seeks $100 million and class-action status, was filed by Mark J. Geragos, a celebrity lawyer who has represented Chris Brown and Kesha, on behalf of Daniel Jung, a Los Angeles man who, according to the suit, paid $2,000 for a ticket and airfare to the festival.

The event, announced in December through a wave of Instagram posts by celebrities and supermodels, was advertised as including popular acts like Blink-182, Major Lazer, Migos and Rae Sremmurd. The rapper Ja Rule and his business partner, the 25-year-old technology entrepreneur Billy McFarland, were behind the festival, and attendees were promised music, catered meals and V.I.P. accommodations in a beach paradise.

Multiple concertgoers said they were left stranded on the private island of Fyre Cay over the weekend after officials placed the event site on lockdown because, according to the tourism ministry, Fyre organizers had allegedly failed to pay customs duty taxes on items imported for the event.

Ticket packages for the now-postponed event reportedly sold for between $4,000 to as much as $100,000 per person, according to the suit and ticket purchasers.

Organizers issued a statement saying, “The Fyre Festival is a dream and a vision that we regrettably did not see come to life how we imagined in 2017, but our main priority now is rectifying the situation and helping all affected guests.”