Man held in EDC ticket scam was employee of festival, police say

The scam to rip off Electronic Daisy Carnival organizers to the tune of an estimated $1 million was hatched by an employee of the music festival, according to Las Vegas police.

But the counterfeit-ticket scheme was foiled by law enforcement with help from the festival's own chief executive officer, arrest reports obtained Wednesday said.

One of two men arrested in connection with attempting to sell counterfeit wristbands, Aaron Leonard Hernandez, 37, was the assistant head of security for the festival, the report said.

Pasquale Rotella, CEO of Insomniac Inc., which put on the three-day festival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, went to police with information that a scheme had been developed to sell counterfeit wristbands.

The report said Rotella told police his company puts on other music festivals, such as the popular Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, an annual event in California, and has had issues with counterfeiters.

"Rotella stated his company had a problem with numerous fraudulent wristbands appearing at the 'Coachella' show at Palm Springs.' "

Rotella told police counterfeiting cost his company millions.

Pathomrat Neil Kunawongse, 35, also was arrested in the scam.

Kunawongse, of Hacienda Heights, Calif., and Hernandez, of Corona, Calif., were both booked at the Clark County Detention Center this weekend on charges including obtaining money under false pretenses, attempted forgery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Kunawongse also was arrested on charges of burglary and possession of stolen property.

The counterfeit wristbands were recovered before any were sold. But police estimated the scam could have netted $1 million based on an email from Kunawongse that detailed the plan to sell 5,000 wristbands at $200 each.

The email also contained a digital image of the wristband for the festival, police said.

That email, which was sent by Kunawongse to an unidentified man in the printing business in California, was shared with an employee of the festival, who went to Rotella, the report said.

The report said counterfeiting is such a problem that Insomniac Inc. goes through an arduous process to secure their tickets.

"Rotella stated that these wristbands are made of cloth and the graphic designs change in order to make them more difficult to duplicate," the report said.

Rotella also told police that only a small group of employees are familiar with the design of the wristbands until just prior to the opening of the shows.

During the police investigation, officers were present during a phone conversation between Kunawongse and an employee of Insomniac. In that conversation, Kunawongse agreed to meet the employee at a coffee shop at The Cosmopolitan.

Police provided the employee with a digital recorder that he put in his pocket to record the conversation with Kunawongse.

Detectives also gave the employee 125 authentic wristbands for the event valued at a total of $25,000, the report said.

During the meeting, the employee told Kunawongse that he stole 125 wristbands and wanted Kunawongse to sell them. Kunawongse agreed and also confessed his involvement in attempting to make fraudulent wristbands, police said.

Police arrested Kunawongse after the meeting. During his interview with police, Kunawongse admitted to his role in the scam and told them Hernandez was the mastermind.

On Sunday, police interviewed Hernandez at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hernandez told police he had not seen Kunawongse since May, but detectives told him they knew he was lying because they had surveillance photographs of him and Kunawongse at the Aliante hotel-casino on June 19.

Hernandez was arrested.

During his trip to the county jail, Hernandez gave a full confession, the report said.

The report said he told police he wasn't sure who came up with the idea for the scam, but both he and Kunawongse decided it would be a good way to make some extra money.

More than 200,000 revelers attended this weekend's festival.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.