Robert F.X. Sillerman, the founder of what was once SFX Entertainment, is being petitioned to declare bankruptcy by two Chicago-based promoters. Jeffery Callahan and Lucas King of React Presents and Clubtix filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against Sillerman in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Dec. 27, according to Reuters.
Sillerman, the roll-up king who acquired a disparate crew of promotion companies in the ’90s, turning it into SFX, which became Clear Channel Entertainment, which became Live Nation, was most recently the chief of another version of SFX Entertainment, this time to rollup various EDM festivals. That effort faded but reemerged as LiveStyle, headed by former AEG Entertainment chief Randy Phillips.
Meanwhile, the promoters, who were acquired by Sillerman in 2014, are seeking a judgement they recently won against Sillerman over a promissory note he guaranteed on behalf of SFX, Reuters said. Sillerman filed for bankruptcy in February 2016, and King and Callahan, and their two companies, sued Sillerman in Chicago federal court a month later to collect on the promissory note, according to Reuters.
The filing comes on the heels of Sillerman and his wife’s legal spat with ESFX Holdings, which asked a New York state judge to permit the forced sale of a property owned by the couple to satisfy a $14.6 million resolution.