Security Chief At Travis Scott’s Astroworld Concert Had Conflict Of Interest

Travis Scott’s Astroworld tragedy shattered many dreams and traumatized many people for the rest of their lives. Several lawsuits are being filed against the individuals involved, and new facts are emerging. Seyth Boardman was recently revealed to be both the Astroworld festivals’ safety and risk director and a manager at its security company, holding potential conflicts of interest.

According to Rolling Stone, the safety and risk director hired to oversee the deadly Astroworld Festival and develop the show’s event operations plan was also a longtime employee of a separate security company contracted for the event. The development highlights what some security experts reported as a potential conflict of interest that may have influenced the event’s planning and decision-making.

According to three-event security sources, including two former CSC employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, such a link creates a potential conflict of interest because Boardman is on two separate payrolls and is expected to make decisions for both the festival as a whole and specifically for CSC. These potential issues, they say, could include budgetary disagreements, how to handle security staffing, or other scenarios in which a festival organiser may push for one course of action while the security company prefers another.

“Managers at CSC get a base salary and get bonuses based on financial productivity for their region. [Earnings] at CSC are contingent on getting good financial terms at events. When you’re having to make a decision and go back to Live Nation and say what CSC can or can’t do, if you don’t know which hat you’re wearing, that’s where the problem is.”

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“The primary thing that goes wrong in this scenario is that you can’t be loyal to two masters,” says another former CSC manager familiar with that company’s protocols. According to a long-time security executive with experience in large-scale live events, an ideal safety director for a festival must be impartial and make unbiased decisions focused solely on an event’s safety and not influenced by the potential interest of any company with which they contract.

“I wouldn’t hire someone [in that scenario]; the optics are terrible. If I’m doing a festival and I’ve created a security plan and I want my plan to be as good as it could be, I’d want someone to look at it with a clear set of eyes who can identify things I may have overlooked. Your loyalties are split because you want to take care of the guy who’s paying you on both ends.”

“You want someone without allegiances. In every industry, people make friends and that shouldn’t exclude someone from getting work. But even if they aren’t at the company anymore, what’s their relationship? Did they have a bad relationship so now he wants to nitpick? Is he too friendly and will let things slide?”

It’s unclear how many festival organizers were aware of Boardman’s relationship with CSC when he was hired through B3. Requests for comment from Boardman, B3, and CSC went unanswered. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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