Pasquale Rotella who is the founder of Insomniac Entertainment, Todd DeStefano who is a former event manager of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and Rexa Gerami who is an event promoter are starting their criminal trial in early August. The trial is based off of charges of alleged bribery and conspiracy, with Rotella paying approximately 1.9 million U.S. dollars in kickbacks to DeStefano in exchange for help in organizing raves in the coliseum.
The original court case was in 2013. It was thrown out of court by a judge in the L.A. Supreme Court. It was then reinstated by the state’s appellate court in 2015. Even with this, there were delays due to overlapping court cases for the District Attorney’s office. There was also a delay as Deputy District Attorney Dana Aratani was removed for breaking attorney-client privilege by reading confidential emails between Rotella and his attorney, Gary Jay Kaufman.
With this criminal court beginning, the defense attorney is concerned about self-incrimination as there is a civil trial beginning on the same issue this upcoming November.
The lawsuit comes from the commission that owns the coliseum. They are suing because Rotella and Gerami allegedly made payments to DeStefano, and former General Manager Pat Lynch, in order to hold their raves in the coliseum with little payment actually going to the owners of the venue. Accusations and allegations arose back in 2010, when a 15-year-old died at Electric Daisy Carnival, leading police to research the building’s financial records.
Pat Lynch pled guilty in 2012 in order to avoid a prison sentence. Lynch is expected to testify when the trial as a witness.