Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella is no stranger to the spotlight. Having conquered the electronic music world with his epic, large-scale music festivals with the best artists in the world, Rotella recently found himself in the middle of another major event – a legal battle.
In 2012, Rotella was involved in a legal case with allegations of embezzlement, conspiracy and bribery, for a total of six felony accounts. Prior to Electric Daisy Carnival finding a home at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the flagship EDC was hosted at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The entire case was prompted by the unfortunate death of an underage girl who had attended EDC at the LA venue in 2010, just one year before the festival was moved to Las Vegas.
Rotella was then accused of bribing a public employee, Todd DeStefano, the Coliseum’s events manager at the time. DeStefano was allegedly receiving more than $1.8 million in kickbacks, and in return, provided low rental rates and facilitated access to the Coliseum for Rotella and his festival.
With the array of charges racked up against him, Rotella was looking at up to 13 years and eight months in prison if convicted.
Almost 4 years later, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dismissed Rotella of all felony charges of bribery, embezzlement and conspiracy, putting an end to this legal turmoil.
In a statement released by Rotella after the dismissal, he says:
“I always knew the charges were politically motivated and publicity driven,” Rotella says in an email statement. “While it’s taken too long to finally put this behind me, I can now focus my energy where it belongs: my family and my company. Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this.”
So what does this mean to the EDM community? If Rotella was convicted, the electronic music community would have been faced with rough and uncertain times. Insomniac organizes some of the world’s major dance festivals and a tainted reputation such as this guilty charge could have possibly caused a decline in attendance and a sense of instability through the electronic music industry, not to mention the leadership and guidance of its CEO. With the recent bankruptcy of SFX, Insomniac is in the perfect position to reiterate its dominance in this growing industry which rakes in over just over $7 billion worldwide on an annual basis.
Tell us your thoughts on Rotella’s recent acquittal. Would the scene have changed or stayed the same?
Sources:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7476159/pizza-hut-turntable-pizza-box-dj
https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/ims-business-report-2016-edm-bubble-burst
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