Three Sentenced in L.A. Coliseum Corruption Case

One of the defendants in a case involving money-skimming at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum pled today to one count of conflict of interest. Pasquale Rotella, 41, owner of the Electric Daisy Carnival concert promotion company, received a sentence of three years summary probation and agreed to pay $150,000 to Los Angeles County for his part in the 2012 embezzlement and bribery scheme.

The case involved a story broken by the LA Times about corruption to the tune of millions of dollars at the historic venue. Initially, six people were indicted regarding the alleged wrongdoing. Coliseum events manager, Todd DeStefano, was accused of accepting payments to his own company from corporations wanting to put on events at the coliseum. In return, DeStefano would lower the cost of procuring the Coliseum and ensure the events could continue even after the death of 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez after she'd attended an Electric Daisy rave concert in 2010. DeStefano is also alleged to have directed vendors and film production companies that shot movies and commercials at the Coliseum to pay his private company in return for favors unknown.

Also indicted were Patrick Lynch, the events manager prior to DeStefano, former technical manager Leopold Caudillo Jr, and janitorial contractor Tony Estrada.

The two chiefs of concert promotion companies who paid the bribes and who were also indicted were Rotella, founder of Electric Daisy Carnival, and Reza Gerami, chief of Go Ventures. The case alleged that the latter pair paid $1.8 million in bribes to DeStefano in order to hold their rave concerts at the Coliseum at a discount. The indictments followed 13 months of investigation by they Los Angeles District Attorney's office.

Todd DeStefano, 43, and Reza Gerami, 41, the other concert promoter, return to Department 109 on Friday at 1:30 p.m. for further hearings in case BA396065.