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Migos agree to pay $30,000 back to Fyre Festival following bankruptcy trustee’s lawsuit
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 19 March 2020
Migos have reportedly settled with the trustee overseeing the Fyre Festival bankruptcy, who began legal proceedings last year in a bid to reclaim advances paid to artists who were set to play the doomed music event. The hip hop trio will reportedly hand over $30,000 as part of the settlement.
The companies behind the Fyre Festival debacle all fell into bankruptcy after the big party in the Bahamas was cancelled just as it was getting starting. It transpired, of course, that those companies hadn’t put in place much of the infrastructure required to deliver even a basic music festival, let alone the luxury experience they’d promised ticket buyers.
Boss man Billy McFarland was subsequently jailed for fraud, while his celebrity business partner Ja Rule has been distancing himself from the shit show ever since.
A flurry of lawsuits were filed in the wake of all that by investors, suppliers and ticket-buyers. Though with the Fyre companies bankrupt, McFarland broke and in jail, and Ja Rule’s lawyers working very hard to ensure their client can’t be held liable, there isn’t currently any money for those plaintiffs to go after.
Which is why Greg Messer, the trustee of the bankruptcy, has been trying to reclaim monies paid to artists who were booked to play and other celebrities who got cash to plug the event on social media. Talks began last year with the agencies representing all that talent and – in August – Messer went legal to try to force less amenable agents and artists into handing back any Fyre monies they’d previously banked.
Agencies targeted in that litigation included CAA, UTA, ICM and Nue Agency, with artists named as having receiving Fyre payments including Migos, Pusha T, Tyga, Skepta and headliners Blink 182, who – the lawsuit claimed – received $500,000.
Of course, in the music industry it is common for artists to demand upfront payments from festivals – especially new unproven festivals – and those advances are usually non-returnable if an event does not go ahead. However, where that is the case, Messer’s lawsuit argued that because the upfront fees were paid out of monies that McFarland had fraudulently acquired from his investors, they should be returned in this instance.
Some artists and agents would disagree with that argument. Although reps for Migos have seemingly agreed to meet Messer half way. According to gossip site The Blast, citing a recent court filing, “the band was paid $100,000 to perform at the planned Fyre Festival, which never went down – per the deal, Migos agrees to pay back $30,000 to the trustee”.
The legal filing states: “The defendant shall pay the total sum of $30,000 as full and final settlement and complete satisfaction of any claims the trustee has raised against the defendant”.
Once the judge overseeing the case approves that deal Migos will be removed from Messer’s lawsuit. It remains to be seen if any other settlements of this kind of imminent.
