Orlando Music Festival Ticket Holders Ask Attorney General for Help After Event Canceled

ORLANDO, Florida. Eight months after the producer of the Orlando Music Festival was arrested on fraud charges and the event was canceled, ticket holders are still waiting for their money back.

“Oh my God. We are big fans of smooth jazz,” said Anita Sallas.

An Oviedo resident showed News 6 her family’s jazz collection, remembering buying tickets to a festival scheduled for the Fourth of July weekend as a Christmas present.

“In the first half of June, we received an email saying that the event was canceled and that we would receive a refund,” she said. “Shortly after that, every few days, we got another email saying the same thing. It kept repeating. We had about four or five of them, and then suddenly everything stopped. We never heard from them again after that.”

“These guys and girls – they can put on a show,” said David Thompson. “It’s just pure fun.”

Thompson, from Vero Beach, said he spent about $1,000 on tickets to the Orlando Music Festival and he received the same email saying the event had been cancelled.

News 6 first reported the festival’s cancellation after its creator, James Walker Watson, was arrested by the FBI and charged with fraud in connection with a Southfork music festival near Dallas.

He pleaded not guilty.

[INSIDER EXTRA: Hear James Walker Watson’s interview with News 6 before he was arrested]

The News 6 investigation revealed that Watson was serving a prison sentence for similar offenses related to other music festivals in Houston and Sacramento.

“I have a track record of being a successful producer,” Watson told News 6 before his arrest. “Out of 36 music festivals, I had two stumbling blocks. I’ve learned my lesson, so it’s over with.”

An email alerted ticket buyers that the Orlando Music Festival was canceled after its executive producer was arrested on federal fraud charges. (Copyright 2022 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)

Sallas and Thompson said they were still waiting for their money back, and they joined other ticket holders in filing complaints with the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

Thompson received notice that his complaint had been forwarded to the Consumer Protection Division, which enforces the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

“At least I didn’t receive thanks for your response and we appreciate that,” he said. “They said we’ve heard your concerns and here are a few more places you can look at too, so I hope something happens here.”

Following an investigation by News 6 last year, the Orlando Music Festival website was taken down, and emails and phone calls to other festival executives asking for refunds went unanswered.

Watson has now admitted that he has financial problems.

From his jail cell in Texas, Watson filed a lawsuit in Orange County against one of the production companies he hired to help run the festival.

According to the lawsuit, he is seeking $80,000 in what he called “unreturned deposit money.”

Watson, who represented himself in the lawsuit, wrote that the failure to return the deposit “impaired (Watson’s) ability to deal with the settlement of obligations in connection with the cancellation of the Orlando music festival.”

He did not specify whether he received an insurance policy for the festival.

“They owe us money,” Thompson said. “Give it back.”

“Do it right, give our money back and give money back to all the other people who thought they were going to attend the concert,” Sallas said.

Ticket holders across the country emailed News 6 asking for help securing refunds.

The Attorney General’s Office and the FBI are asking ticket holders to file detailed complaints with their offices.

The Attorney General’s office can be contacted here, and the FBI can be contacted here.

Watson is still in jail despite two attempts to make contact.

His next court hearing is scheduled for August.

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