Organizers of the Pitchfork Music Festival have settled a lawsuit against the festival’s co-founder after accusing him of misappropriating more than $500,000 in festival funds.
Pitchfork Festivals LLC sued co-founder Mike Reed last month in federal court in Chicago, alleging he kept $564,680 by falsely claiming the money reimbursed expenses he had already incurred while preparing for the 2025 festival, which was later canceled.
In a social media post shared Monday, Reed said he and Condé Nast — Pitchfork’s New York-based parent company — had reached a settlement.
“I want to thank the many people who have shown support over the last few weeks,” Reed wrote on Instagram. “I’m happy to say that both parties have decided to settle our issues amicably. We can now put these issues in the past and move forward.”
In a lawsuit filed July 6, Pitchfork accused Reed of fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, accounting and fraudulent transfer.
After the festival was canceled in 2024, and after a failed attempt to restart the event in 2025, organizers said they asked Reed to return nearly $4 million dollars that had been sent to his production company, Big Stik LLC. But Reed falsely claimed that more than a half million dollars had been used on labor and other fees when it hadn’t, according to the lawsuit.
Instead of returning the funds, Reed allegedly transferred the money from the company contracted by Pitchfork to another entity under his control, At Pluto Ltd.
The lawsuit alleged that Reed concealed the transfer of funds and that Pitchfork only discovered it through the discovery process in a related arbitration proceeding.
Neither Reed nor Condé Nast immediately responded to a request for comment.
Related Posts:
- Lorde forced to stop performance after fan ‘loses consciousness’ at festival Entertainment A heatwave resulted in a dramatic set for Lorde at Lollapalooza (Picture:I EPA) Lorde was forced to halt her headline performance at Lollapalooza after multiple fans reportedly lost consciousness in the crowd during Chicago’s scorching heatwave. The Royals singer, 29, was headlining the iconic music festival in Grant Park when…
- Festival-goers ‘stretchered away’ after fire sparks ‘crowd crush’ at London concert News The crowd crush happened after a small fire broke out, police told Metro (Picture: Plus 1 TV) At least 23 people were injured in a ‘stampede’ at a music festival in north London yesterday evening. Ghana Party in the Park, a festival celebrating Ghanaian culture as part of ShattaFest UK,…
- Why Gia Fu’s salsa DJ set belongs at the Head in the Clouds Festival News Salsa music was a part of Gia Fu’s life even before she really knew what it was. “Somehow this style of music traveled to my part of the world in Hong Kong, and before I heard my first salsa song, it was already in my life with the cha-cha-chá and…
- Grant Park Music Festival strikes the right chords News The recent Chicago Loop Alliance report on the economic benefits of arts and culture to Chicago highlights a simple but important truth — cultural institutions do more than entertain. They help define Chicago’s identity, strengthen communities, draw visitors from all corners of the world and generate meaningful economic activity. For…
- Girl, 17, dies in ‘medical episode’ at UK music festival News The Streets headlining the main stage at Kendal Calling in 2024 (Picture: Ant Longstaff/Shutterstock) A 17-year-old girl has died after she suffered a medical episode at Kendal Calling music festival in Cumbria, police have said. Emergency services were called to the scene just before 2.15am today following reports. Despite first…
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)