Fyre Festival Hit With Two More Lawsuits, One Alleging “Bloodstained Mattresses”
The Fyre Festival debacle continues to spark new revelations—and new legal headaches. The lawsuit tally against co-founders Ja Rule and Billy McFarland is now up to five, as new ones have been filed by an angry ticket purchaser as well as by an event management company claiming that Fyre didn’t buy cancellation insurance. (Ja Rule and McFarland were previously hit with three other class-action fraud lawsuits over the course of the past week.) And in other news, Bloomberg reports that Fyre Festival organizers nearly received $25 million in funding from Comcast, but were denied just days before the ill-fated event.
On Thursday, National Event Services sued Fyre Media in Philadelphia federal court. The Pennsylvania-based company, which provides staffing and logistics for various types of big events, is alleging breach of contract, fraud, and negligence. A contract filed as an exhibit in the case shows NES was hired to provide medical services at Fyre. Festival organizers “failed and/or refused” to buy cancellation insurance, the lawsuit claims. Additionally, according to the complaint, festival organizers didn’t tell NES about any potential problems until the company’s employees landed at the festival location.
“When NES arrived on the Island, on or around April 26, 2017, it immediately discovered that the accommodations were uninhabitable, including bug infestation, bloodstained mattresses, and no air conditioning,” the lawsuit states.
The claims also sketch a grim timeline of the cancellation and the health dangers the event could have posed for the attendees: “At 12:25 a.m. on April 28, 2017, NES discovered that not only had Defendants failed to secure a contract with a medical evacuation helicopter or plane, but that the medical clinic on the Island was also closed. As a result, NES had nowhere to send any patient who may have required emergency care overnight.”
NES alleges it suffered damages of $250,000. It’s also asking the court to award punitive damages.
Curiously, the lawsuit mentions that Live Nation representatives visited the festival location in February, though Live Nation was not involved with the actual event. A Live Nation spokesperson denies the assertion, telling Pitchfork the company never visited the location and had no involvement.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Fyre ticket purchaser Andrew Petrozziello sued Ja Rule and McFarland in New Jersey federal court. The lawsuit alleges violations of the state consumer fraud act and breach of contract. According to the complaint, Petrozziello spent thousands on his ticket and travel arrangements and was forced to pay hundreds for his own lodging in Miami after the event was canceled. The suit asks for punitive damages, plus interest, and more.
A lawyer for NES declined to comment to Pitchfork. A lawyer for Petrozziello didn’t immediately respond to Pitchfork’s requests for comment, nor did Fyre Media representatives.
Read the full lawsuits below.
And then there’s the matter of the Comcast money. According to Bloomberg, Ja Rule and McFarland had been negotiating with Comcast Ventures, the investment arm of the media giant, for the past few months, about funding for the Fyre app. (Comcast wasn’t considering investing in the festival, only the app.) Bloomberg reports that up to $25 million was on the table. Fyre Media employees said McFarland told them he had secured a $20 million investment from Comcast. But a Comcast Ventures spokesperson told Bloomberg the company never gave Fyre Media any funding. In fact, Comcast told McFarland just days before the festival that they had decided not to invest. Bloomberg reports that “following a due diligence review and the failure of Fyre to provide crucial financial information, the product didn’t have the necessary technical capabilities to justify funding.”
Read “Searching for Answers in Fyre Festival’s Viral Disaster” over on the Pitch.
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