Fyre Fest founder Billy McFarland loses $ 5 million lawsuit for two participants



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One of the plaintiffs, Seth Crossno, contributed to the chronicle of the disastrous Bahamas event on Twitter.

The blogger who helped chronicle the disastrous Bahamas Fireworks Festival and his friend won a $ 5 million lawsuit against the founder of the event Billy McFarland .

Seth Crossno and co-complainant Mark Thompson who both live in Raleigh, North Carolina, won a victory against McFarland last week, The News & Observer after failing to respond to court proceedings for more than a year.

McFarland is currently in prison and should be sentenced next month for two counts of cable fraud. Last month, prosecutors brought fresh charges against him, alleging that he continued to rip off people since Fyre Festival while he was on bail.

Crossno and Thompson are the first victims of the festival to obtain a judgment against McFarland. Together, they paid about $ 13,000 for travel, accommodation and luxury VIP passes for the exotic event, but when they arrived, they found a logistical mess of emergency tents on a rocky island without any glamorous equipment promised.

The Lawyer of Crossno and Thompson Stacy Miller told The News & Observer that each of his clients received $ 1.5 million in compensatory damages for thefts, hotels and mental suffering, pain and suffering. . McFarland was not present at the North Carolina trial and the judge ruled in his absence.

"We are very satisfied," said Miller . . "We asked the court to send a message to those who defraud consumers in North Carolina, and we believe that he did."

Vice News also reports that Crossno has a podcast called "Dumpster Fyre" in the works, where he will comment on the festival, and has recently applied for the expired Fyre brand.

As to whether Crossno and Thompson will be able to collect McFarland's money, their lawyer Miller is optimistic. Speaking with Vice News Miller pointed to a recent petition filed by federal prosecutors in the criminal case of McFarland stating that, despite the failure to pay various lawyers and crisis management groups for their services, he can still have money. This includes at least $ 50,000 in cash and $ 40,000 per month of "self-employment" that he reportedly told his probation officer.

Of the many class actions and lawsuits currently being filed against McFarland and Fyre Media, Miller said Vice News "I think there will be a lot of people looking to collect, but we will be the first ones. "

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