TOPLINE Trustees working to claw back money owed to investors, lenders and attendees of the 2017 bankrupt music extravaganza Fyre Festival settled a lawsuit with model and influencer Kendall Jenner for $90,000—less than half of the $275,000 she was sued for in connection to a promotional Instagram post.
KEY FACTS
- Jenner is among entertainers such as Blink-182 and Pusha T who were paid for their involvement in the festival—which promised days of parties, luxury accommodations and gourmet food, but was instead a complete flop, and generated multiple lawsuits.
- Bankruptcy law allows trustees to recover, or claw back, payments made before a company filed for bankruptcy, and Jenner and other entertainers were sued by Fyre Festival trustees to recover money for creditors.
- According to court documents, Jenner was allegedly paid $250,000 to promote the festival in a single, now-deleted Instagram post, along with an additional $25,000 a few days after the post went live.
- “So hyped to announce my G.O.O.D Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival,” Jenner wrote in the deleted post, according to court documents. “Use my promo code KJONFYRE for the next 24 hours to get on the list for the artists and talents afterparty on Fyre Cay.”
- The lawsuit alleges that Jenner did not indicate she was paid for the Instagram post, and “intentionally led certain members of the public and ticket purchasers to believe” her brother-in-law Kanye West, G.O.O.D’s founder, could attend or perform at the festival.
- Jenner, who has 129 million Instagram followers, denied any liability connected to the lawsuit, according to court documents; the settlement still requires a judge’s approval, and, as the Wall Street Journal reported, will avoid spending more time and money on litigation.
BIG NUMBER
Over $26 million. That’s how much money Fyre Festival investors ultimately lost, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
KEY BACKGROUND
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Fyre Festival—which promised attendees (who paid anywhere from $500 to over $250,000) a two weekends-long party full of marquee music acts and models like Jenner and Bella Hadid—was a failure. The reality, as chronicled in two documentaries and mocked extensively, involved FEMA tents, cheese sandwiches in foam containers and stranded festival-goers. None of the promised entertainers showed. The Fyre Festival fallout resulted in multiple lawsuits. Its founder, Billy McFarland, is serving a six year prison sentence for multiple fraudulent schemes. He requested compassionate release in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It was denied.
TANGENT
In 2019, Forbes reported that Jenner held 34 U.S. trademark applications among the over 700 owned by the Kardashian clan (that’s Kim, Kanye, and sister Kylie, along with Kendall).
–Lisette Voytko, Forbes Staff, Business
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