Newspaper Faces $10M Suit Over 'Brooklyn's Fyre Festival' Story

NEW YORK CITY — A historic city newspaper is being sued for $10 million over coverage of a winter market it dubbed "Brooklyn's version of Fyre Festival," court records show.

The Brooklyn Eagle stands accused of defaming Millennial Entertainment Group and CEO Lena Romanova with its coverage of Winterfest at the Brooklyn Museum in December 2018, according to a civil complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Nov. 29.

According to the suit, the paper "sabotaged any chance of Winterfest becoming an annual event" by reporting Millennial did not provide Winterfest vendors with electricity, charged guests $20 for tickets that later became free and fabricated a spokesperson to deal with complaints.

A spokesperson from the Brooklyn Eagle's Office of the Publisher disputed the lawsuit's claim, noting the paper fact-checked the story before publication and repeatedly contacted Romanova with interview requests.

"There is no merit to the frivolous lawsuit filed by the Millennial Entertainment Group, LLC and Lena Romanova against The Brooklyn Eagle and its reporter, Scott Enman, for the accurate reporting of last year’s Winterfest event at the Brooklyn Museum," the spokesperson said.

The suit names Brooklyn Eagle reporter Enman and Pamela Barsky, a vendor who was quoted saying, "Everybody got scammed."

Millennial alleges Barsky broke her contract by telling Brooklyn Eagle she paid the group $6,000 to sell bags inside a leaky stall that suffered frequent power outages, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also points to tweets, sent by Enman and Brooklyn Eagle, promoting the story with messages such as "Winterfest Fiasco: Organizers ignore refund requests from customers," and "Is Winterfest Brooklyn's version of Fyre Festival?"

A Brooklyn Eagle follow-up story — about Winterfest vendors who said Romanova created a fake spokesperson to harass them — is also condemned as false in the lawsuit.

The suit accuses the newspaper of making "a series of false, defamatory statements."

This will not be Romanova's first legal battle over winter festivals. The event planner settled a suit brought by contractors over a Boston festival that was also severely criticized by vendors.

Her company, Boston Winter Village, was accused of owing $235,000.

Romanova's attorney did not respond to Patch's request for comment.