The mayor of a Boston suburb claims a wealthy Massachusetts family bought a 138-year-old newspaper and used it to create false stories, and the newspaper’s reporter admitted in response that its arsonists, according to court documents. Subjects were “all”. made.”
Andrew Philbin and his son, Matthew, have reportedly held a decades-long grudge against Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who was an alderman in the 1990s when he oversaw the family’s bid for local boarding houses, according to court documents. The operating permit was rejected.
The Philbins sought to retaliate against DeMaria when in 2017 they purchased the Everett Leader Herald — a weekly founded in 1885 — “for the primary purpose of providing a vehicle through which to publicly attack the mayor,” the court filing said. It was alleged in the papers.
The Philbins hired a disgraced reporter, Josh Resnick, who allegedly testified in a court deposition that he fabricated quotes and fabricated stories regarding Di Maria’s corrupt dealings — among them that he ran casinos. K magnate took a bribe from Steve Wayne and he paid the money. The women who accused him of sexual assault.
Court documents cite a December 2020 email from Resnick to Matthew Philbin that allegedly read: “We’re going to crush this guy (Di Maria). We’re crushing this guy.” He has had 12 years to build himself in. We are in our second full year of trying to get him out.
In a Sept. 6, 2021, email from Resnek to Matthew Philbin, court documents allege the reporter: “[I] I feel like I have this fat I’ve been working on for three years to get it down.”
When asked under oath whether Resnek’s articles allege that DeMaria received tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and extorted money from people, Resnek allegedly admitted that it was “all made up.” It happened”.
When Di Maria’s attorneys asked if the stories alleging wrongdoing by Di Maria were “100% fabricated,” Resnick reportedly replied: “Yes, sir.”
In response to the claims made in the amended lawsuit, Resnek “denies the conclusory allegations and characterizations drawn from the testimony” and “denies the conduct inferred therefrom.” Resnick noted that his statement “isn’t done yet.”
The Philbins are also accused of hiring a private investigator to “covertly monitor” De Maria and her family, according to court documents. In January 2021, Matthew Philbin is alleged in court documents to have texted Resnick: “Fatty is in Arizona with the in-laws.”
Philbins has denied the allegations.
The Philbins own several businesses and assets in and around Massachusetts, including commercial and residential real estate, insurance, hotels, and cannabis dispensaries, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The amended lawsuit alleges the family’s alleged “enmity” with DeMaria spans decades, including when the mayor served as city alderman and refused to renew the Philbins’ licenses to operate local boarding houses. done.
“Given the ongoing problems with boarding houses, Mr. De Maria will not renew the licenses of non-compliant boarding houses that are negatively impacting his neighborhood, including those owned by the Philbins,” the amended lawsuit states. reads
“Mr. De Maria’s review of regulation and boarding houses angered the Philbins, who saw Mr. De Maria as a threat to their financial and business interests,” according to the redacted filing.
The Philbins denied all allegations in the court papers, including claims that the boarding houses “violated any…rules or regulations.”
Philbins also denied claims that newspaper stories about Di Maria were published with him “knowing that he had no evidence to support his false claims” that were intended to that the articles would “damage Mr. De Maria and result in his removal from office.”
Resnek continues to work for the Everett Leader Herald as an independent contractor, with no full-time employees, according to a source familiar with the matter.
According to court documents, Resnick allegedly fabricated stories claiming that De Maria extorted money from a city clerk, sexually harassed and threatened several women, and casino moguls. Received kickbacks from Steve Wayne.
De Maria, an Everett native who has been elected six times since 2007 to run the town 20 miles north of Boston, has filed a defamation suit against Resnek and Philbins.
After the lawsuit was filed in 2021, Di Maria’s lawyers deposed Resnick who questioned the veracity of his stories alleging corrupt dealings by the mayor.
Resnick’s alleged admission under oath that his stories were “100% fabricated” prompted the mayor’s lawyers to file an amended complaint last fall.
Resnek and The Everett Leader-Herald allegedly “knew their stories were ‘fiction’ and ‘fabrication,’ and have admitted as such,” according to Resnek’s statement, filed in Middlesex Superior Court. According to the amended lawsuit. They are seeking unspecified damages.
Resnick denied these characterizations of his testimony in his response filed with the court.
After buying the paper in 2017, the Philbins called Resnek “Kickback Carlo” on the mayor, “for the express purpose of trying to defeat the mayor,” according to the amended filing in Middlesex Superior Court.
They haven’t fired Resnek and apparently have their own ax to grind against the Democrat. When De Maria was an alderman, he voted against his request to renew the license for boarding houses he wanted to build in the city of 60,000.
De Maria said the buildings were slums rented out to “sh-tbags.” According to Boston Magazine.
The Post has reached out to Philbins, Resnick and Di Maria for comment.
It is expected that the assembly of Resnake will be completed in the next few months.
The 73-year-old inked veteran, with stops at other Massachusetts weeklies and the Boston Herald, has accused Di Maria of wrongdoing, allegedly aimed at undermining his public support during the 2021 mayoral race. Installations started running normally. Sue said.
“Every week, 52 times a year, I invent the Leader-Herald … the mayor is my enemy,” Resnek wrote to a colleague, according to an email described and attached to the lawsuit. “Making this sh-t takes me two days away from important writing every week.”
Resnick’s alleged fake coverage included a story published in September 2021 that quoted city hall employee Sergio Cornelio as saying Di Maria had demanded a $97,000 payment as part of a local development agreement. If Cornelio refused, the mayor vowed to ruin his life, Resnick reported.
In August 2021, the Everett-Leader-Herald published a story alleging that Di Maria “apparently paid large sums of money to several women who claimed sexual assault and abuse at his hands to keep their mouths shut.” As reported in detailed investigative reports by the Boston Globe.”
The Globe published a story in 2014 under the headline: “Four women accuse Everett mayor of sexual harassment.”
De Maria never faced charges or a trial in the separate incidents. Resnick claimed to have settled with one of the women.
In DeMaria’s lawsuit against Resnek and Philbins, DeMaria’s attorneys alleged that the August 2021 story was “defamatory” and that Resnek allegedly admitted that he had “never seen any of the proposed settlements because they existed.” Wasn’t.”
Resnick also wrote a story in April 2020 alleging that Di Maria “put the knife [the] Woman’s throat” When asked under oath if the story was a “fabrication,” Resnick replied: “Yes, sir,” according to the amended lawsuit.
Resnick reportedly admitted in a deposition that he knew a magistrate had dismissed the claim for “lack of probable cause.”
Another story is devoted to a book Resnick pitched about De Maria giving Wayne a gaming license for a casino. Wayne opened Encore Boston Harbor in Everett in 2019.
According to Boston Magazine, Resnick was reportedly angry that De Maria gave the license to the van instead of his friend, Everett native Joe O’Donnell.
In a May 2019 email that Resnick allegedly sent to O’Donnell, the journalist wrote: “Remember Joe, this fat useless f–k is well-liked in your hometown, just like you and me. do not have.”
“He wants a cut of everything he does with money that doesn’t belong to him,” Resnick allegedly wrote in an email to O’Donnell. “Unlike you and me, he is an elected public official.”
A spokesperson for Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas told The Post: “Wyn Resorts has worked collaboratively with Mayor De Maria and his administration to make Encore Boston Harbor a key catalyst for economic development in the region. Our dealings with have always been completely professional.
The Post has sought comment from O’Donnell.
According to Boston Magazine, the stories Resnick wrote reduced voter support for DiMaria, who had been popular in Everett before the Philbins bought the Everett-Leader-Herald.
But despite the negative press, Di Maria secured a sixth term in November 2021.
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