Fyre Fest Fallout: Organizer Ja Rule Sued Over $3M Loan

Rapper Ja Rule must personally pay back a $3 million loan relating to the ill-fated Fyre Festival, according to a lawsuit filed by his creditor in Manhattan this week.

Page Six reports that the New York-based financial services group EHL Funding LLC extended the credit to Ja Rule – real name Jeffrey Atkins – and other festival organizers on April 10th, just two weeks before the festival was set to be held. Ja Rule reportedly signed a personal guarantee which secured the loan and other fees in case of default, making him directly responsible for repayment of the loan despite the now-famous collapse of the Fyre Festival.

While Ja Rule and other organizers have paid back $1 million of the loan so far, no payment has been made since April 21st, according to the lawsuit.

Fyre Festival had been billed by organizers Rule and entrepreneur Billy McFarland as a luxury music festival on the island of Exuma in the Bahamas, complete with deluxe villa lodging accommodations and extra-expensive packages that offered yacht charters.

But guests who arrived at the island were greeted with a chaotic scene as the festival site suffered from incomplete infrastructure, a lack of security, and FEMA disaster relief-style tents in place of the promised luxury accommodations.

According to the lawsuit, full repayment of the loan is due by May 31st.

Organizers of the festival were recently hit with a $100 million lawsuit alleging the whole enterprise was a “get-rich-quick scam” from the beginning. Three festival goers, Chelsea Chinery, Shannon McAuliffe and Desiree Flores also filed a class action lawsuit against the event organizers. The latest $3 million loan repayment suit against the organizers is at least the seventh the group is facing thus far.

Ja Rule has yet to release an official statement since his apology for the state of the festival.