Earlier this week, Travis Scott faced a civil deposition about the fatal Astroworld crowd crush in 2021. His questioning reportedly lasted nearly eight hours [via the Associated Press].
But before all of that, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs for the great many lawsuits field in the wake of tragedy — which killed 10 people and injured hundreds more — filed an emergency motion to obtain phone records regarding the event, which the rapper and his legal team had reportedly failed to provide despite being under court order.
A new transcript obtained by Rolling Stone indicated that getting those documents may not be entirely possible, since Scott's attorney said days ahead of the deposition that the rapper's phone had fallen off a boat nearly two years ago and is at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Steve Brody of O'Melveny & Myers claimed that, while David Stromberg — head of Scott's Cactus Jack record label — had given access to his phone, the legal team wouldn't be able to produce the relevant records until September 27. But Scott's phone "fell off a boat in January of 2022 and landed somewhere at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and is not able to be retrieved."
Judge Kristen Hawkins, who is overseeing the case, appeared to question how Scott's team had handled the phone: "There does not seem to have been any action, from what I am hearing right now, taken on the part of Mr. Scott's legal team to either, A, secure and download anything from his phone immediately following an event in which 10 people died, or, B, trying to recover text messages from alternate sources when Mr. Scott would have the ability to go and get that information, possibly from the carrier, or from other sources," the transcript reads.
Brody replied that the messages could not be retrieved directly from Apple, nor the cell phone carrier. Furthermore, the rapper didn't have his phone backed up on iCloud due to "significant hacking concerns." Brody claimed that the contents of Stromberg's phone would "show the vast majority, if not all, relevant texts with Mr. Scott related to this event." Since these documents were not able to be made available before Monday's (September 18) deposition, Scott will have two more days of questioning during the first week of October.
The plaintiffs' lawyers claimed that Scott had previously objected to producing his phone records, citing that the request was "seeking confidential and/or sensitive information," and that it was "seeking the disclosure of documents that are unreasonably cumulative or duplicative of other of the requests." Apparently other defendants in the case had also been difficult to work with during the process, but said Scott and his team were "particularly egregious."
"As frustrating as the conduct of many of the defendants have been, they have at least produced some documents comprising text messages, photos, and videos retrieved from images of their clients', employees', and agents' phones," the attorneys wrote. "Travis Scott and his team stand apart as having not produced a single text, WeChat communication, video, or photo from their phones — not because they don't exist — but because his attorneys chose not to image or search their phones the order to do so by the court."
"If not ordered to bring themselves into compliance immediately, Mr. Scott will be deposed without anyone knowing what was said between he and his team via these means of communication," the motion added.
The accumulation of lawsuits related to the deadly 2021 concert is somewhere in the hundreds. In June, a grand jury decided that Scott wouldn't face criminal charges.
But before all of that, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs for the great many lawsuits field in the wake of tragedy — which killed 10 people and injured hundreds more — filed an emergency motion to obtain phone records regarding the event, which the rapper and his legal team had reportedly failed to provide despite being under court order.
A new transcript obtained by Rolling Stone indicated that getting those documents may not be entirely possible, since Scott's attorney said days ahead of the deposition that the rapper's phone had fallen off a boat nearly two years ago and is at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Steve Brody of O'Melveny & Myers claimed that, while David Stromberg — head of Scott's Cactus Jack record label — had given access to his phone, the legal team wouldn't be able to produce the relevant records until September 27. But Scott's phone "fell off a boat in January of 2022 and landed somewhere at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and is not able to be retrieved."
Judge Kristen Hawkins, who is overseeing the case, appeared to question how Scott's team had handled the phone: "There does not seem to have been any action, from what I am hearing right now, taken on the part of Mr. Scott's legal team to either, A, secure and download anything from his phone immediately following an event in which 10 people died, or, B, trying to recover text messages from alternate sources when Mr. Scott would have the ability to go and get that information, possibly from the carrier, or from other sources," the transcript reads.
Brody replied that the messages could not be retrieved directly from Apple, nor the cell phone carrier. Furthermore, the rapper didn't have his phone backed up on iCloud due to "significant hacking concerns." Brody claimed that the contents of Stromberg's phone would "show the vast majority, if not all, relevant texts with Mr. Scott related to this event." Since these documents were not able to be made available before Monday's (September 18) deposition, Scott will have two more days of questioning during the first week of October.
The plaintiffs' lawyers claimed that Scott had previously objected to producing his phone records, citing that the request was "seeking confidential and/or sensitive information," and that it was "seeking the disclosure of documents that are unreasonably cumulative or duplicative of other of the requests." Apparently other defendants in the case had also been difficult to work with during the process, but said Scott and his team were "particularly egregious."
"As frustrating as the conduct of many of the defendants have been, they have at least produced some documents comprising text messages, photos, and videos retrieved from images of their clients', employees', and agents' phones," the attorneys wrote. "Travis Scott and his team stand apart as having not produced a single text, WeChat communication, video, or photo from their phones — not because they don't exist — but because his attorneys chose not to image or search their phones the order to do so by the court."
"If not ordered to bring themselves into compliance immediately, Mr. Scott will be deposed without anyone knowing what was said between he and his team via these means of communication," the motion added.
The accumulation of lawsuits related to the deadly 2021 concert is somewhere in the hundreds. In June, a grand jury decided that Scott wouldn't face criminal charges.
