Suits Against Fyre Swell

Add financers of the much-maligned Fyre Festival to the growing ranks of those suing organizers.

facebook.com/fyrefestival – Fyre Festival

EHL Funding and Oleg Itkin filed claims May 11 and 12 respectively, claiming they were duped and demanding their money back.

One of EHL’s members, Ezra Birnbaum, says the company loaned organizers $3 million in April, but Fyre stopped making payments on the loan a few weeks after.

Those funds were supposed to be paid back through money put into “FyreBands,” the wristbands which attendees could use to make purchases at the cashless event.

As is well known by now, the event was a bona-fide disaster and the money put into Fyre bands was likely not enough to cover the amount necessary. EHL claims there were no payments after April 21, although there was still money from FyreBands. EHL is suing to get its money back in full.

Itkin, a private investor based in New York, claims that organizer Billy McFarland misled him with regard to the festival’s expected revenue. He wants his $700,000 investment back and $250,000 in fees, according to the New York Post.

McFarland was close to securing a deal with Comcast Ventures prior to the festival, which would have gotten $10.5 million from Comcast and $4.5 million from other investors, Bloomberg reported.

That deal fell through in the 11th hour though the publication reported, which left the company way short on cash and forced McFarland to inform employees they could not immediately be paid for their future work.