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By Elisha Fieldstadt
Companies that represent models Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowksi could be required to disclose information about payments they received in exchange for promoting the disastrous Fyre Festival, according to federal court documents.
The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Fyre Festival LLC was given permission Monday to subpoena records and information from IMG Models, the company that represents Hadid and Hailey Bieber; DNA Model Management, the company that represents Ratajkowski and Kendall Jenner Inc.
The modeling agencies are among two dozen companies that were allegedly involved with the failed 2017 festival in the Bahamas and can also be subpoenaed, a bankruptcy court judge in New York decided.
"Each of the Examinees is either a company or individual who provided promotional services, advertisements, social media posts, musical performances, logistical support, vendor services, or guidance to the Debtor in connection with the preparation for the Festival," according to court documents.
The trustee needs information from the third parties because the organizer of the festival, Billy McFarland, 26, was sentenced in October to six years in prison for fraud, and financial information from him isn't readily available, the documents said.
The subpoenaed parties were paid nearly $5.3 million in total to appear at, promote or somehow service the event, according to court filings. Kendall Jenner Inc. was paid $275,000 by Fyre Festival LLC, the filings said. Jenner had endorsed the event to her enormous social following.
Jenner, along with Bieber, Hadid and Ratajkowski, also appeared in a promotional video that promised the festival "on a remote island in the Exumas" would feature "the best in food, art, music and adventure."
Instead, “chaos ruled all facets of the festival: luggage was simply thrown out of the back of a truck, feral dogs ran around the festival site and there were few security guards or festival employees on-site to assist attendees," said court documents quoting a Rolling Stone article.
Tickets to the festival ranged in price from $1,200 and $100,000. During McFarland's trial, prosecutors said his investors and customers lost a combined $26 million as a result of the Fyre Festival debacle and a separate ticket selling scam.
The public's fascination with the catastrophic festival was renewed this month when two documentaries, Hulu’s "Fyre Fraud" and Netflix’s "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened" were released.
NBC News reached out to the modeling agencies, representatives for the modeling agencies and the attorney who represented McFarland during his fraud trial and did not immediately get responses.
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