Even those of you who are part of the corrupt LA political machine or lived so high off it for so long or suck up to it for petty favors will have to admit that Patrick Lynch leads a charmed life of freedom and luxury that 99 percent of us might envy when he ought to be locked up in prison for much of the 15 years he faced for being the kingpin in a conspiracy to rip off the public.
Of course, the longtime Memorial Coliseum general manager is still a despicable little crook and abject failure at his job even if he got the deal of the century because his bosses were a long list of city and county elected officials and appointees of the governor whose own failure and even complicity in his crimes would have been exposed if Lynch went to trial.
Sensitive as always to embarrassing those in high places, District Attorney Steve Cooley made sure that what they knew, when they knew it and what they did about it would not be exposed.
He let Lynch off with a single count of conflict of interest and dropped nine others involving the far more serious charges of conspiracy, embezzlement, bribery and kickbacks that his five criminal pals still face.
Lynch did suffer the humiliation of spending several days in county jail and being brought into court in a blue jumpsuit and having to pay back $385,000 of the money he stole taking his share of the loot from deals like cutting deals for the Coliseum to pay an extra $1 an hour per employee for contracted janitorial services — money that went into his pocket, not the lowly people who cleaned the stadiums.
There are thousands of people in prison for long stretches who did far less wrong, showing just how great it is to be a public official. They not only get great pay — $277,000 a year in Lynch’s case — plus spectacular pensions and a get-out-of-jail-free card unlike ordinary civilians who don’t stand a chance.
Where’s the outrage over this? Why isn’t the press calling for Cooley’s head instead of blandly noting “some observers said (the deal) could be viewed as highly favorable to Lynch,” as the LA Times noted in passing, or as “a slap on the wrist … a small price to pay for arrogantly violating the public trust,” as the Daily News characterized it.
What Lynch, did to the historic Coliseum — only venue in the world to host two Olympics, a World Series, Super Bowl and even World Cup game — in his 17 years as general manager was a crime itself, one that allowed him to become a multi-millionaire while the facilities decayed.
When he took over management of the Coliseum and Sports Arena, they still were home to professional football and professional basketball. Now, after years of staggering losses and mismanagement, it’s about to become a public gift without public benefit to the University of Southern California.
Pro sports were long gone by the time Lynch was fired a year ago over a catastrophic “Rave” concert – Lynch’s last hope for bringing in revenue, which is sort of like the failed moviemaker who turns to porn.
In the aftermath of 15-year-old girl dying of an ecstasy overdose, 200 medical emergencies and 60 arrests, the incompetent bumbling boobs who constituted the Coliseum Commission – the officials who enjoyed so many privileges and freebies thanks to their roles — had no intention of doing anything until the LA Times exposed some of what had been going on.
So they went into butt-covering mode and fired Lynch and the mastermind of this conspiracy, the man he anointed to be his assistant general manager, Todd DeStefano, who was double dipping by giving contracts to his own company, taking kickbacks and stealing every dime he could with support from and knowledge of his boss.
It’s all laid out in the petition to freeze the defendants assets, which is great reading if you need to get your blood boiling. (86501069-Coliseum-Petition-186-11)
Here’s a few excerpts quoting investigator Deren Brady that show how DeStefano was the initiator of the wrongdoing and that Lynch was aware of and approving what was going on as well as sharing in the profits.
Defendants Gerami and Rotella (Rave promoters) paid DeStefano in excess of $1.8 million in order to continue to hold the events they promoted at the Coliseum through contracts that DeStefano negotiated to the benefit of the promoters, thereby saving them significant sums of money, and to the detriment of the Coliseum which lost revenue by the reduced costs as well as the payments diverted to DeStefano’s personal business accounts. Rotella and Gerami paid DeStefano to directly lobby for them to save them at least $1 million by virtue of his position as a Coliseum insider who affected the contract for their events and the amount of rent paid to the Coliseum. Lynch became aware of the relationship and allowed it to continue.
(Finance Director and Assistant GM Ronald) Lederkramer believes the reason Lynch promoted DeStefano (to Assistant GM) was to prevent him (Lederkramer) from supervising and watching DeStefano’s activities. Accounting procedures changed with DeStefano in this position. Generally accounting settlements would be seen by the finance department and any changes would be made prior to the bill going to the promoter. DeStefano operated differently. DeStefano would show the bill to the promoter prior to bringing it to the finance department for a final stamp of approval. Changes could not be made at this time because DeStefano had already agreed with the promoter on the final billing.
According to Lederkramer, DeStefano directly influenced the amount of revenue received by the Coliseum for rent for these events. DeStefano argued strenuously for reduced rental rates for the rave promoters, Gerami and Rotella, even though the gross amount of money generated by these events steadily increased over the years. Lederkramer provided me with a chart of two Go Ventures events showing the attendance, gross ticket sales and rent received by the Coliseum. The revenue increased and the rent decreased. Notably, DeStefano only argued for the rent reduction from the “Raves,” but not on behalf of other events. Lynch agreed to the reduced rents.
It is my (investigator Brady’s) belief that Rotella and Gerami paid DeStefano not only to be allowed to continue to hold their events at the Coliseum, but to directly lobby for them to save millions of dollars from his inside ability to affect the contract for the events and the amount of rent paid to the Coliseum. Lynch became aware of the relationship and allowed it to continue. I believe one of the reasons this was done was to allow Lynch to continue to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks Lynch was receiving from (Antonio) Estrada (the janitorial services contractor kicking back money to Lynch).
In October or November of 2009, Lederkramer presented Lynch with an analysis of the cost of Estrada’s business. The analysis showed the Coliseum could save over $400,000 per year by bidding and going with another company. Lynch ignored the analysis and continued with Estrada’s company. Lynch has full power over managerial decisions and is ultimately responsible for making the decisions. For the first few years, Estrada had a contract for his services, but eventually was paid based only upon what Lynch told Lederkramer to pay him. If the rate would increase, Lynch would simply tell Lederkramer what to pay him. Estrada would bill the Coliseum accordingly
Beginning in 2009, defendant Lynch facilitated DeStefano’s crimes by permitting DeStefano to continue to run the events promoted by Rotella and Gerami despite DeStefano’s personal financial interest in those same events of which Lynch was notified. Further, defendant Lynch facilitated a scheme by DeStefano to embezzle $70,0000 for an exclusive marketing and sales agreement between the Coliseum and Coca-Cola.
What is so grievous about this is that it is hardly the first time that prominent officials elected or appointed who are part of the LA political machine get off so lightly while fringe players and small time officials get the book thrown at them.
Think about how this plays in the gang-infested areas of poverty where young black and Latino men get shipped off to prison for less anti-social crimes than Patrick Lynch committed.
This is the kind of double standard that tears at our social fabric, eats at the soul of our community and allows for rampant corruption at the highest levels of society with the passive approval of the civic and business elite.
“Think about how this plays in the gang-infested areas of poverty where young black and Latino men get shipped off to prison for less anti-social crimes than Patrick Lynch committed.
This is the kind of double standard that tears at our social fabric, eats at the soul of our community and allows for rampant corruption at the highest levels of society with the passive approval of the civic and business elite”
True, we are almost destroyed. Thank you for summarizing the years of ignored
activities – I hope the FBI looks into this situation. They are guilty as charged.
This kind of treatment happens to be so accepted by so many of the influential decision makers that are elected and appointed, and the judicial system becomes even more “suspect” as no real showing of justice being served can be shown.
It was said when I was in college in the 60s and some of the ills of society were examined in classes then, that “Justice” was taken to mean “Just Us” by those in power, with lots of examples to lend credence to that assessment. The other idea then, and still much the prevalent view of fair treatment under the law is “How much ‘justice’ can you afford?” Run out of money and you run out of defense, a vital part of things especially if you did not do the charged crime.
The situation here is important to show punishment of the offender is somehow less important when you have “white-collar” crime over more commonplace street crime.
If this has been some drug deal for any miniscule percentage of the sums of money taken from the public (and by those entrusted with the duty, at that, not some hold-up gang), more time in jail or prison would have easily been handed out.
The Rod R. Blogojevich 14-year prison sentence handed out in December for federal corruption in Chicago is the kind of action we should be seeing here. Maybe since it was a federal court forum and not a state court matter, it is less subject to local influence. Unless Lynch is a key witness for prosecuting the rest, there really is some favor-granting here, and as you say, Ron, keeping exposure contained to protect others could easily be the underlying purpose.
And if the idea is to put a cap on the story as a political damage control matter, then we really do have some reason for some major house-cleaning of those enabling this no-prison-applicable-here kind of result. It might be like so many cases when colleagues of any political or governmental organization are found things most would say is illegal or at least “unethical.” that nothing is done, no action to censure, to discuss and change laws, or calls for more investigation happen because of the personal stake potential: “There but for the grace of God go I” theme, a projection of the possible inclusion or revelation of things they may be involved in coming back to bite them in the ass.
So the safe route is the “do nothing” approach. Fabian Nunez had Arnold pull that oh-so-slimy act of cutting Nunez’ prison sentence in half for the manslaughter conviction of son Esteban as Arnold exited the office of Governor of California and notions of justice were nowhere around, only a favor for a political friend.
Too much power and too much arrogance keeps all this disparate treatment for crimes that have an exponentially greater impact on society in terms of financial, sociological and personal harm than can ever be restored by “restitution.”
Without including any commensurate level of prison time for the crime, the deterrence element of the law is reduced to something for the accountant to handle as the offender continues past this, largely unscathed. White Collar crime isn’t a victimless crime, at all, just because there’s not any dead bodies on the scene.
The handling of the cases might be called a “joke” but nothing funny here. Maybe the D.A.’s candidates could shed some light on the policies and commitments to full and fair prosecutions- but even the our own City Attorney’s campaign promises went down in smoke when it was time to act on it.
So all in all you have 2 crimes perpetrated on the people- the swindling secret deals as the first one, and then the marshmellow harshness of a prosecution effort on behalf of “the People” as the second crime.
So Lynch will walk in exchange for singing against his underlings in Court but not one on the Coliseum Commission will face scrutiny for their mind numbing lack of oversight?
FROM INVESTIGATOR BRADY’S OFFICIAL REPORT:
“FURTHER DEFENDANT LYNCH FACILITATED A SCHEME BY DESTEFANO TO
EMBEZZLE $70,000 FOR AN EXCLUSIVE MARKETING AND SALES AGREEMENT
BETWEEN COLISEUM AND COKE.”
THINGS GO BETTER WITH COKE! LIKE SHAKEDOWNS.
WITHOUT THE “GENEROUS” PLEA BARGAIN GIFT BESTOWED ON LYNCH BY
COOLEY(BOTH BORN UNDER THE SIGN OF THE SHAMROCK) , COCA COLA EXECUTIVES MIGHT HAVE FACED A SUBPOENA TO TESTIFY IN OPEN COURT
WHY YOU CAN’T BY A SEVEN UP AT A USC HOME FOOTBALL GAME.
ONLY IN L.A. ONLY IN RONKAYELA!
JOHN WALSH
I could see Cooley was giving up completely on his so-called public corruption unit when the Vernon Guys got house arrest AND KEPT ALL THEIR PENSION $$$ despite looting the city for millions. Cooley is a tired, old, pathetic sole-less human being that is gutted out completely hollow and without an ounce of a soul left. That’s why he’s going away after 12 LOOOONNNG years of seeing all the filth, dirt, corruption, cover-ups, and schemes at Downtown L.A.
L.A. needs another old, tired, mindless, weak, and hollow FOOL to head the D.A.’s office so one can steal millions and IF CAUGHT (which is less than 5% chance of it happening anyway) one GETS A SLAP ON THE WRIST AND MAYBE 2 COLUMNS IN THE TIMES from the tired, old, corrupt, and hollow reporters like David Fool-heiser or the marxists in the editorial pages. Then on T.V. we see see the large breasted foolish women doing the weather and news on bankrupt KTLA and mentally ill KNBC. The only way to deal with it all is to: 1/ go on drugs, 2/drink yourself to death, OR 3/MOVE. I’ll press OPTION #3. My neighbor behind me admitted something just tonight—HE’LL DO ANYTHING TO MOVE OUT OF L.A! He listed the house for lease—but now SELLING IT AND FLEEING L.A. IS THE FAMILY DECISION! Destination—Santa Barbara! Yes, another Angelino finally woke up to the reality of having to vote–that is with 2 feet. And here’s a guy just last year that spent tens of thousands putting all those bricks in the driveway to make it look like a cobblestone road. Some WELFARE recipient WILL ENJOY THE HOME LATER ON.
HA HA HA HA!!!!! We’ll that makes this year 2012 the Jewish exodus–that’s 6 neighbors fleeing the local liberal hellhole of Los Angeles.
Ron will give up too. Maybe in a year this blog will be called “RonKayeLeftLA.com”
Real men when challenged make a stand, cowards flee!!!
I’ve been following this story in the LA Times. Who do you complain to when you’re outraged by an injustice such as this? I’m perfectly willing to write a letter, but to whom and do they listen? Thanks for the great analysis as usual.
As others have said, the LA City Council is an multi-year RICO enterprise. We need to understand that there can be no corrupt city hall without a corrupt judiciary. Both the state and federal systems cater to the elite and one token commissioner does not change the situation that for decades we have been beset with corrupt judges. Look at ex Judge David Yaffe who put atty Richard Fine in jail for 18 months because he complained about corruption in the compensation of L.A. County judges and about the corruption at the CRA, which the State finally abolished as of 2-1-2012, citing vast corruption as a major reason to end the CRA’s.
In a city that has a corrupt judiciary who jails consumer attorneys and turns a blind eye to billions of missing tax dollars, we should become accustomed to men like Garcetti and his totally fraudulent Hollywood Community Plan which was designed for one purpose — to loot the treasury. Now Garcetti has a problem — his hubris and greed was so great that Garcetti was a major factor in the CRA’s being abolished. Now, he can’t dispense a couple billion or so in CRA loot to his buddies.
While this minor commission functionary is being sacrificed for the illusion of acountability, Garcetti, who’s played the king pin role in our enternal deficits and the destruction of Hollywood, is running for Mayor. But the corrupt billioanires have to be asking themselves, “Do we really want to put our trust in this effete loser?”
Of course, the billionaires want some tool to do their bidding, but Garcetti is becoming more of a liability. A timely indictment over Garcetti’s role in the frauds at 1601 N. Vine could clear the way for either Perry or Greuel to become mayor. Then everyone will praise the enlightenment of our selecting a female mayor and that should silence the few voices of reason. It would be soooooo un PC to complain about a female mayor — no matter what shenagigans take place behind the scenes.
On the other hand, it would be great for Hollywood in particular and Los Angeles in general if Garcetti should not be indicted and that he pursue his mayoral campaign. That will provide citizens the platform to continually bring front and center the grandiose corruption which has plagued Los Angeles while Garcetti has been Council President.
“Is the year 2013 Los Angeles Voters must kick the bums out of City Hall”
2013 is the year Los Angeles Voters can change City Hall and kick the bums out of LA City Council, with a Mayoral election and eight of fifteen seats up for re-election. That could be an opportunity to field a slate in opposition against the incumbents and to band together behind a big issue, like land use reform. Land use is how the city can accommodate growth and even boost the economy. Fiscal responsibility, Education reform, Public transportation expansion and reduced bureaucracy, we need credible new candidates with a strong backbone to stand up to the current administration and bring about the change to improve conditions in the City of Los Angeles. I fill confident, that if people want change they’d just vote for it. After all this is supposed to be “Government by the people for the people”. Let us exercise our right as citizens and vote the bums out. What we need is a Statesman – Not a Politician
YJ Draiman
http://www.draiman.org