The Fyre Festival Drama Isn't Over — Now It's Coming For Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber & Kendall Jenner

The ashes of Fyre Festival continue to smoulder. While Fyre Media founder Billy McFarland is currently serving his six-year sentence in federal prison for mail and wire fraud, civil suits are shedding light on more financial questions.

Talent agencies representing big-name models who appeared in Fyre Festival’s promo commercial are expected to receive subpoenas, forcing them to reveal how much money was paid to them by McFarland, Billboard reports. Specifically, IMG Models, DNA Model Management, and Paradigm Talent Agency may be ordered to provide proof of payments received by Fyre Media to a bankruptcy judge.

Models in the commercial included Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, and Chanel Iman, which featured them frollicking and swimming in the Bahamas. The models also posted photos from the commercial filming on Instagram and participated in broader social media promotion with paid posts. Jenner may also be forced to disclose more details about a $250,000 (£190,000) payment for a Fyre Festival-sponsored Instagram post. In the now-deleted post, she announced that members of G.O.O.D Music record label were slated to perform and included a discount code for fans to purchase admission tickets. Jenner did not disclose that the post was paid and received a warning from the US Federal Trade Commission, which mandates that such social media sponsorships must be disclosed to the public.

The purpose of such subpoenas is to determine how McFarland spent over $11 million (£8.4 million) of investor funds on the ill-fated fest. This total doesn’t just represent money spent on the celebrity models — it also fees paid to caterers, service staff, and “consultants.” Gregory Messer has been named the trustee of Fyre Media’s bankruptcy, which includes Fyre Festival and the Fyre App, McFarland’s celebrity booking on-demand venture. In total, Messer is expected to account for $26 million (£19.7 million) of Fyre Media expenditures.