Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski sued over Fyre Festival payments
The two models, along with many other celebs, have been named in a lawsuit
Pills
September 2nd, 2019
September 2nd, 2019
It was supposed to be an ultra-premium version of Coachella and, instead, it will be remembered as the Scam Festival. Now, two years after the colossal flop, the Fyre Festival is back under the spotlight. The news of the last few days is, in fact, that Gregory Messer, the bankruptcy administrator of the State of New York, has sued Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski. The reason? Trying to recover the sums paid to the models to promote the event to repay, at least in part, the creditors.
According to Messer, Kim Kardashian's half-sister got $250,000 in exchange for a post published on Instagram on January 2017 (later deleted) in which she invited her fans not to miss the festival, announcing that it would "be populated by models and beautiful people". The complaint states that the model "never informed the public that either she had no intention of participating in the Festival, or eventually decided not to participate in the Festival". In trouble with Kendall, there are also Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski and other girls of IMG Models and DNA Model Management, paid up to $1.5 million for their services for post and promotional videos like the one where they have fun on a yacht and on the beaches of the Bahamas. These are just two of dozens of lawsuits for "fraudulent transfers and actual fraud" filed at the New York bankruptcy court that also involve Migos, Pusha T and Blink 182, accused of being paid while never having performed and, therefore, part of the conspiracy of the organizer of Fyre Billy McFarland to cheat investors.
Announced as the coolest event ever, the Fyre Festival was to be held on a Bahamian island, Great Exuma, for two weekends in April and May 2017. The project, conceived by rapper Ja Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland, promised to be a cool and luxurious happening, with star-studded resort services and performances by artists such as Blink 182, Major Lazer, Disclosure. Supported by an impressive advertising battle, sponsored by the major influencers, from Kendall Jenner to Bella Hadid, the event, despite prices between 5 thousand and 250 thousand dollars, was an immediate sold out. Unfortunately, however, during the opening weekend, a myriad of security, food, housing, and artist issues caused the postponement of the festival. Soon, the images published online of an improvised campsite, full of garbage and sandwiches, far from the experience of promised tents-villas and gourmet meals, went around the world revealing the #FyreFraud or #FyreFail. The luxury version of the Coachella has become a real media issue at the center of articles (many of which hypothesized the collapse of confidence in the system of influencers) and two documentaries: Fyre Fraud, directed by Jenner Fust and Julia Willoughby Nason and Fyre - The biggest party never happened, directed by Chris Smith.
The festival's story ended up in court and cost Billy McFarland, who pleaded guilty to defrauding investors for more than $27.4 million, a six-year prison sentence. Soon we will know what will happen to Kendall and Emrata and whether they will have to repay the fees received to promote the festival.
