* Federal suit seeks $100 million indamages
* Claims fraud, negligence, breach of contract
* Ja Rule says refund forms are in the mail
Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos has filed a lawsuit against hip-hop star Ja Rule (real name: Jeffrey Atkins) and his Fyre Festival business partner Billy McFarland, alleging the pair intended to swindle attendees of their doomed Bahamas festival all along.
The class action suit was filed in federal court on behalf of Fyre Festival attendee, Daniel Jung. It alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing. It seeks $100 million damages for the plaintiffs.
“Defendants intended to fleece attendees for hundreds of millions of dollars by inducing them to fly to a remote island without food, shelter or water,” claims the suit. “The festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees — suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions — that was closer to The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies than Coachella.”
The suit also asserts that Atkins and McFarland knew in advance that Fyre would be a disaster, claiming “Mr. McFarland and Mr. Atkins began personally reaching out to performers and celebrities in advance of the festival and warned them not to attend — acknowledging the fact that the festival was outrageously under-equipped and potentially dangerous for anyone in attendance.”
“We were a little naïve in thinking for the first time we could do this ourselves,” McFarland told Rolling Stone last week, before concluding, “There will be make-up dates, May 2018 in the U.S., free for everybody who signed up for this festival. We will donate $1.50 [per ticket] to the Bahamian Red Cross.”
“I’m heartbroken at this moment,” said Atkins. “My partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event, it was NOT A SCAM as everyone is reporting.” He also said that attendees had been sent a refund form.
