Rave Promoters Insomniac, Go Ventures Sued by L.A. Coliseum, Which Also Targets Venue Leaders Pat Lynch And Todd DeStefano
The L.A. Coliseum and its public commission announced today that it has filed suit (PDF) against a pair of rave promoters and a pair of the venue's leaders who are accused of bilking the place out of hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more.
Raving at the Coliseum.
Former Coliseum general manager Pat Lynch is alleged to have received kick backs of $1 to $1.25 for every hour worked by cleaning and set-up hands. That turned out to be worth $394,716 since 2006, according to the suit's claims.
As for onetime Coliseum manager Todd DeStafano ...
... the filing says he and his wife Carisse (also named as a defendant) "profited personally ... by diverting revenue" from concessionaires, vendors, film shoots and raves.
It alleges "DeStefano approved contractual arrangements in which he and/or his spouse had a financial interest with Defendants Insomniac, Go Ventures and [more] ... "
Cesar Sebastian Ravers.
Damages are alleged to be in excess of $1 million.
Many if not most of these allegations have been aired in the Los Angeles Times, which took a look at the Coliseum's cozy relationship with rave promoters after the party organizers continued to have their way with the venues even after the controversial ecstasy death of a 15-year-old named Sasha Rodriguez, who had attended Insomniac's Electric Daisy Carnival at the Coliseum last year.
The paper alleged that DeStefano had been taking money on the side from Insomniac and Go Ventures even as he worked for the Coliseum as a main venue manager.
Then it found that Pat Lynch was living high on the hog on the public's dime, getting free gas.
Lynch is long gone and so is DeStefano. Several investigations have been launched.
Electric Daisy Carnival moved to Las Vegas for last summer's event, which saw about 215,000 people over three days.
Just today Insomniac stated that it would have nothing to do with this year's New Year's Eve rave called Together As One, a party it traditionally co-promoted with Go Ventures.
Both promoters had the run of the Coliseum and its sister venue the L.A. Sports Arena -- with quarterly parties -- until the DeStefano controversy erupted this year.
Today's suit accuses the defendants of filing false government claims, breaching fiduciary duty (for Lynch and DeStefano), fraud (for Lynch and DeStefano), unjust enrichment, (for Lynch, DeStefano and his wife), conspiracy to defraud (for Lynch, DeStefano and his wife), having a personal financial interest in government contracts, unfair business practices (for the rave promoters), breach of contract (for the rave promoters, negligence (for the rave promoters) and more.
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