Judge Forces Fyre Festival LLC to File Bankruptcy

In recent business news, US Bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn of the Southern District of New York, approved an involuntary bankruptcy petition last week against Billy McFarland and the company he started called Fyre Fest LLC. This move will force the company to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to satisfy the company’s investors, John Newman and Raul Jimenez, who originally requested the bankruptcy.  According to the investor claims, they sank over $500,000 into the company that planned throw an extravagant, two week music festival over the course of two weeks in the Bahamas.

Fyre Festival was apparently doomed before it even started due to inadequate preparations. The festival was expected to be an ultra-luxurious, tropical music fest hosted by famous rapper Ja Rule and included some big name bands including headliner G.O.O.D. Festival goers shelled out $1500 per ticked for private jets, plush green rooms and gourmet meals, however the original date of the party was canceled just days before the event due to not enough RSVPs. Five months later, when the actual festival did launch, the entire episode exploded into chaos. Festival goers complained that their luxury cabanas where more adjacent to FEMA emergency tents used in the Haitian earthquake and filled with wet linens. Instead of gourmet food, festival attendees were given cheese sandwiches.

In addition to the forced bankruptcy, there have been lawsuits filed from all over the US including a $100 million class action lawsuit seeking money spent on the ill-fated festival. On top of all that, McFaland was arrested earlier this month and charged with wire fraud. In accordance with the bankruptcy case, Judge Glenn has required that all paperwork required under federal bankruptcy rules be filed with bankruptcy courts in two weeks so that the bankruptcy court can begin working to pay all creditors the money that is owed to them. While Fyre Festival was supposed to be an international paradise for VIPs and supermodels, it ended up being only a half-constructed festival that was horribly underprepared to deliver what it promised.