Judge Rules in Favor of Ja Rule Regarding Fyre Festival Lawsuit

After years of attempting to clear his name, Ja Rule has officially been dropped from the Fyre Festival lawsuit. Fyre Festival was expected to be a luxury music festival in The Bahamas to help promote a music booking application.

The application was developed and promoted by Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc. Ja Rule, legally known as Jeffrey Bruce Atkins, joined McFarland to create Fyre Festival. According to him, he was unaware of the illegitimacy of McFarland’s plan.

The festival was promoted on social media via multiple celebrities, including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, and Emily Ratajkowski. All of these celebrities were paid for their promotion.

In early 2018, McFarland plead guilty to wire fraud and defrauding a ticket vendor. Later that year, he was sentenced to six years in prison and a requirement to forfeit $26 million. He is still serving that sentence.

Ja Rule, on the other hand, is officially cleared of all charges. His involvement did not constitute sales for the festival, and thus, he is not liable for any of the $100 million fraud damages. He is still open to finding the right partners to start a music festival in future, saying, “Sometimes you get into a bad situation with the wrong partners, as we know. You have to reset and do it with the right people.”

Both Netflix and Hulu released documentaries about the fraudulent festival. Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is currently facing legal issues regarding copyright. Hulu’s Fyre Fraud is currently in the clear.