Insomniac Events founder Pasquale Rotella is set to stand trial this November for embezzlement allegations that were leveled against him and his partner Reza Gerami in the wake of an investigation surrounding the death of a teenage girl at EDC six years ago.
The current legal situation was set in motion after the death of 15 year old Sasha Rodriguez at EDC LA in 2010, when Insomniac’s financial records were placed under intense scrutiny, revealing that Rotella and Gerami had been making payments to Todd DeStefano, who at the time as the event manager for the LA Memorial Coliseum. The accusation is that these payments, which came to a total of $1.9 million, were intended to pay off DeStefano to guarantee a spot at the venue for their festival.
The legal proceedings surrounding the alleged embezzlement and bribery incident have been troubled over the last several years. Four charges of embezzlement were dismissed in 2013, while the prosecution attorney Dana Aratani was removed from the case after it came to light that she had read private emails between Rotella and his defense lawyer.
After several delays, Pasquale Rotella will finally see his day in court this November in front of Judge Kathleen Kennedy, who gained some notoriety on the recent “Grim Sleeper” serial murder case earlier this year. The legal outcomes are still of course unforeseen at this point, and it’s not known what effect the trial could have on Insomniac’s festivals in the future.
As always, we’ll be sure to keep you posted when we learn more.