IMG, Kendall Jenner and DNA Model Management face subpoenas over Fyre Festival

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Jan 29, 2019

Attorneys working on a bankruptcy case surrounding Fyre Festival have been given permission to subpoena Kendall Jenner's company, as well as IMG Models and DNA Model Management.

According to multiple American media reports, a federal judge gave the go-ahead for the subpoenas on Monday. The ruling came as a result of attorneys representing the trustee for the Fyre Festival LLC estate requesting to examine parties that received payments in exchange for their promotion of or participation in the event from the company representing the festival. 

Kendall Jenner Inc., IMG and DNA  must now comply with these subpoenas, which target the companies due to the participation of Jenner, as well as models Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber (both represented by IMG) and Emily Ratajkowski (represented by DNA) in promotional social media campaigns and ads for the now infamous festival, much of which have since been deleted.

The failed luxury music event, which was spearheaded by Billy McFarland and set to take place in 2017 on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, turned into a flop when attendees arrived to find the tropical paradise they had been promised on social media was actually a deserted island devoid of entertainment or luxury. Fyre Festival LLC filed for bankruptcy in July 2017, saying it couldn't pay its vendors and other creditors, and prosecutors said McFarland defrauded investors and ticket vendors of $26 million.

According to reports, an exhibit filed along with the attorneys' request said IMG Models received more than $1.2 million from Fyre Festival LLC, while DNA Model Management and Kendall Jenner Inc. each received nearly $300,000.

While over a year has passed since news of the festival's failure first broke, the scandal recently returned to the forefront of public consciousness with the release of "Fyre" and "Fyre Fraud," two documentaries about the event on Netflix and Hulu, respectively.