Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski Among Celebrities Sued for Fyre Festival Payments
Models Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski are among the celebrities being sued by a bankruptcy trustee as a result of promoting the infamous Fyre Festival, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Along with Jenner, 23, and Ratajowski, 28, musicians Migos, Pusha T, Blink-182, and Lil Yachty were hit with the lawsuit on Wednesday — which has been obtained by PEOPLE — in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York by trustee Gregory Messer. Messer has been investigating the scandal, led by William “Billy” McFarland, since 2017, when the event was supposed to take place in the Bahamas.
According to the WSJ, the lawsuits are seeking to recover money paid to talent agencies, performers they represent and some vendors, including two companies that were paid to charter musicians to the festival on private jets and yachts.
The trustee alleges in one of the lawsuits that Jenner was paid $250,000 to promote Fyre Festival months before the event through a since-deleted Instagram post. She earned an additional $25,000 days after sharing the post.
McFarland — who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud charges — was also sued for $14 million that allegedly transferred to his company Fyre Media Inc. from its bankrupt subsidiary that formed to promote the fake festival.
RELATED: Fyre Festival Founder Apologizes from Prison: ‘I’ve Made Many Wrong and Immature Decisions’
Additional bankruptcy lawsuits issued Wednesday allege that Fyre Media paid the talent agencies of models, including Jenner and Ratajowski, and performers that they represent to book them for the festival.
DNA Model Management LLC, which represents Ratajkowski, was paid $299,000 by Fyre Media, the lawsuits claim. Lil Yachty, Migos and Rae Sremmurd’s agency, International Creative Management LLC, was paid $350,000 for them to perform.
Nue Agency LLC was given $730,000 by Fyre Media for performances by Pusha T and rappers Desiigner and Tyga. Blink-182 was also booked to perform with Creative Artists Agency’s $500,000 given by Fyre Media, the lawsuits allege.
Reps for both Jenner and Ratajkowski did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In January, Messer sought an ex parte order in bankruptcy court to issue subpoenas to both models, as well as Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin. The court reportedly granted Messer’s request. An ex parte order refers to a ruling made “on the request of and for the benefit of one party only,” according to People’s Law Dictionary.
The disaster that was Fyre Festival gripped the internet when the event fell apart in April 2017. Now, with both Hulu and Netflix releasing documentaries about the rise and fall of the festival, viewers have even more questions about why McFarland, his partner Ja Rule and Fyre CMO Grant Margolin thought the event would be feasible in less than six months.
Although the event was sold as a luxury music experience held on Pablo Escobar’s former island in the Bahamas, guests arrived to find no luxurious housing, no gourmet meals and no musical acts.
RELATED: From Unpaid Workers to Death Threats: 5 Shocking Things We Learned From the Fyre Fest Docs
McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018. He apologized in a November statement to PEOPLE.
“I am incredibly sorry for my collective actions and will right the wrongs I have delivered to my family, friends, partners, associates and, you, the general public,” he said. “I’ve always sought — and dreamed — to accomplish incredible things by pushing the envelope to deliver for a common good, but I made many wrong and immature decisions along the way and I caused agony. As a result, I’ve lived every day in prison with pain, and I will continue to do so until I am able to make up for some of this harm through work and actions that society finds respectable.”
