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Todd DeStefano, who resigned in January as the Coliseum Commission's long-time events manager, "collected tens of thousands of dollars in private payments from liquor and soft drink companies, television and movie firms, rave promoters and other interests that did business with the agency," the L.A. Times reports. Among the findings topping a story tonight by Andrew Blankstein, Rong-Gong Lin II and Paul Pringle:
A company that DeStefano founded was paid $10,000 or more by Coca-Cola in 2010, the same year he signed a contract that gave the company the rights to sell its products at Coliseum events....DeStefano's business received at least $10,000 from Southern Wine & Spirits, a company he helped to obtain a discount to lease the Coliseum for an employee party....
His company took in more than $10,000 each from the film production "An American Carol," the television show "American Gladiators" and a Santa Monica firm, Tool of North America, that shoots commercials.
DeStefano also was guaranteed a 10% cut of contracts with companies that shot movies, television programs and commercials at the Coliseum and Sports Arena, the Times says, based on his own disclosure reports — submitted after the paper asked why he hadn't filed as required — and other documents. DeStefano has denied that he did anything wrong.