Ultra Founder’s Legal Headaches

The former president of the Ultra Music Festival filed suit against the fest’s holding company and co-founders Russell Faibisch, Charles Faibisch and Adam Russakoff for millions of dollars when he was ousted from Ultra Enterprises in August. The defendants quickly responded with a countersuit of their own against Alejandro “Alex” Omes.

At the same time, Omes and others may face lingering questions over the postponement of the UR1 Music Festival, scheduled Dec. 8-9 in Miami but scrapped at the last minute.

Omes was reportedly one of two partners behind UR1, which would have featured Kanye West, Lenny Kravitz, Lou Reed, Jane’s Addiction, The Offspring, Slash, Fun., Keane and dozens of other artists at Bayfront Park.

A hearing was set May 20 in the Ultra case, addressing Omes’ request for an injunction enforcing a memorandum of understanding that described him and Russell Faibisch as having joint management authority, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

The countersuit alleges that Omes gave up his rights as a shareholder and seeks to assign a value to his shares to buy him out, according to the paper.

But just before he was removed as president of Ultra, Omes apparently had another problem on his hands in the guise of UR1.

In the month before the show, expected to be among the largest in Miami all year and coinciding with the city’s Art Basel week, rumors began circulating that tickets weren’t selling, according to Miami New Times.

It was postponed two weeks out, according to the UR1 website, which cited the weather and “lingering effects” of Hurricane Sandy as reasons. Sandy, for all the devastation it brought to the Northeast, only nominally affected South Florida in October.

No make-up date has been announced, though refunds are offered. But the New Times reported some fans have contacted the paper complaining their refund requests have been ignored.

UR1’s other partner, Winter Music Conference veteran Emilio Guerra told the paper the festival’s demise was “unfortunate” but “the majority of tickets have either been refunded or charged back” and “we are in the final stages of finalizing the makeup event.”

But that may not be the end of UR1’s, or Omes’, troubles. Empire Equities partner Dovi Lesches told the paper he put up most of the money behind UR1.

“I was the sole sucker on this venture,” he said. “And we’re not talking about a couple thousand dollars.” He declined to point fingers at the time of the interview, but apparently another lawsuit may be in the offing.

“I need to file my motions first,” he said. “This will all be figured out over the next few weeks in [court].”