In the midst of the legal battle stemming from the tragic 2021 Astroworld Festival, a surprising revelation has emerged: Travis Scott’s phone, a potential treasure trove of crucial information, lies at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. This startling disclosure surfaced during an ongoing civil litigation against the rapper, where he faces scrutiny over the events that led to the loss of ten lives and left thousands injured.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs took swift action, filing an “emergency motion to compel production” of Scott’s phone and other electronic devices. In a hearing on September 15, Scott’s attorney, Steve Brody, disclosed the challenges in obtaining these records. While records from Scott’s manager, David Stromberg, were expected to be provided, Scott’s phone presented a unique obstacle. Brody explained that the phone had met a watery demise, slipping from a boat in January 2022, and now rests inaccessible in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico.
Efforts to retrieve the messages directly from Apple or Scott’s phone carrier also proved fruitless. Complicating matters further, Scott had not backed up his phone to iCloud. Brody admitted that, in hindsight, it would have been ideal to image the phone shortly after the festival incident. The judge, Kristen Hawkins, expressed her surprise, emphasizing that the imaging could have been done at any point before the unfortunate boating mishap.
The circumstances leading to Scott’s phone ending up at the bottom of the ocean trace back to January 2022, when he was in Mexico. Scott was spotted leaving Cabo San Lucas on January 14, and it was reported that he was working on his album Utopia during his time there. Scott’s legal team had previously contested attempts to access his phone, citing confidential information and deeming the request unreasonable.
The revelation about the lost phone precedes an extensive eight-hour deposition of Scott on September 18. Plaintiffs’ attorneys are now pinning their hopes on Stromberg’s phone and messages, which Brody asserted would likely contain the majority, if not all, of the relevant texts between Scott and others pertaining to the event. Scott is slated for further questioning in October, following a thorough review of these messages. As the legal proceedings unfold, the fate of the Astroworld Festival tragedy continues to hang in the balance.
[VIA]