The bankrupt operator of the 2023 Electric Zoo music festival in New York City struck a settlement with the event’s dissatisfied ticket buyers.
The settlement between Avant Gardner and several groups of putative class action members would allow them to share a $4 million general unsecured claim through the company’s Chapter 11 liquidation plan, according to a motion filed Thursday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Avant Gardner parent AGDP Holding Inc. filed for Chapter 11 last August after its flagship indoor-outdoor stage, the Brooklyn Mirage, failed to reopen for the 2025 season due to a renovation that was hit with cost overruns and city permitting problems. The company also ran the Electric Zoo electronic dance and music festival.
In October, dissatisfied ticket buyers of the festival sought class certification for an estimated group of 60,000 people.
Ticket buyers sued Avant Gardner affiliate EZ Festivals LLC in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in September 2023 for breach of contract and misrepresentation. The suit alleged EZ canceled parts of the festival held on Randall’s Island over Labor Day weekend without notice or adequate explanation.
The suit also said festival planners oversold tickets and then denied ticket holders entry. EZ’s actions caused “chaos,” including an attempted storming of the festival gates, and ticket buyers never received refunds, the suit said. Creditors said the first day of the festival was canceled due to a failure to build stages and safety structures, missing permits, and the overselling of 7,000 tickets.
The suit was halted by the bankruptcy filing.
The plaintiffs’ groups had filed claims in the bankruptcy totaling more than $24 million.
Under the settlement, recovery is limited to those bought festival tickets but haven’t yet received refunds.
Avant Gardner last week won court approval of a liquidation plan that would pay a minimum $6.8 million to unsecured creditors. As part of the plan, creditors could receive higher payouts depending on the future success of the business. The plan also
implemented a settlement between Avant Gardner, its creditors, and major lender and buyer Axar Capital Management LLC.
Dubai-based Five Holdings, which owns Pacha Group, announced this month that it partnered with Axar to operate and reopen the Brooklyn Mirage as Pacha New York in June. An Axar affiliate was approved last year to purchase the event space, among other assets, with a $110 million credit bid.
Attorney Lee Squitieri, who represents one of the groups of ticket holders, said the deal’s terms are “very good” and don’t require releases of claims against third parties.
“Our action and claims against non-debtors involved in and responsible for the E-Zoo 2023 fiasco will have to face the class claims eventually and hopefully that will provide additional funds to make class members whole,” Squitieri said.
The plaintiffs are represented by Bielli & Klauder LLC; Squitieri & Fearon LLP; Moore Law PLLC; Trief & Olk; and Parker Pohl LLP. Avant Gardner is represented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP.
The case is AGDP Holding Inc., Bankr. D. Del., No. 25-11446, motion 2/19/26.
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