Insomniac Lawsuit Dropped

A lawsuit filed by officials with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena against promoter Insomniac Events as part of a corruption investigation was tossed by a Superior Court judge Aug. 30.

The lawsuit, ongoing for several years, accused Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella and another promoter of conning venue officials out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for EDM events at the venue by paying then-Coliseum events manager Todd DeStefano on the side.

Rotella has denied the accusation from the beginning, saying all business was conducted in a legal and above-board manner.

“We have maintained from day one that Coliseum’s meritless lawsuit was ill-conceived, politically motivated and publicity driven,” Rotella’s attorney, Gary Jay Kaufman, told L.A. Weekly. “We are very pleased that the Court recognized that Insomniac and Mr. Rotella’s business with the Coliseum was lawful and transparent.”

The corruption investigation was launched in the wake of a 15-year-old girl’s Ecstasy overdose and subsequent death after reportedly sneaking into Insomniac’s 16-and-older Electric Daisy Carnival in 2010.

The girl’s death triggered an investigation into the Coliseum Commission’s booking of rave events at the state-owned venue.

Daily Pulse