This Monday CEO/Founder of Insomniac Events and EDC Pasquale Rotella appeared in court to face charges of bribery, embezzlement, conspiracy and conflict of interest. After spending a long day in court and paying a staggering 1.8 million dollar bail out, Rotella is facing 29 separate charges and over 13 years in a federal prison.
While the final decision in the trial is set to be made at a hearing on July 29th, Rotella and five other’s found guilt of co-conspiracy are each likely to spend over a decade in prison if found guilty on all allegations.
With a brand new baby and engaged to be married to famous Playboy figure Holly Madison, just two weeks after his case will reconvene, Rotella runs the risk of missing some major life time mile stones if convicted.
Allegedly, Rotella used more than 2.5 million dollars in funds collected from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to bribe city officials. Despite these allegations Rotella’s attorney Gary Jay Kaufman is confident that the charges will be dropped. “My client has always acted lawfully and appropriately with respect to his dealings with the Los Angeles Coliseum. Charges against Mr. Rotella are clearly politically motivated and publicity driven.”
Hopefully for Holly and Insomniac Events (and us EDC lovers), Kaufman’s statements are true and Rotella will be acquitted in time for EDC Las Vegas. Insomniac, recently turned down complete buyouts from Live Nation for around $100M and were closing a deal for %50 for $50M. The music business world will be watching closely.