Mayor Reporting on Friends to FBI and US Attorney?
By Josh Resnek
Mayor Carlo DeMaria apparently agreed to provide information to the FBI and the US Attorney’s office regarding investigations into his actions and those of others allegedly involved with him in backing the now disgraced Steve Wynn in his effort to secure the land in Everett for a casino and hotel, the Leader Herald has learned.
He signed a proffer, otherwise known as a “queen for a day” letter which is a written agreement between federal prosecutors and individuals under criminal investigation which permit these individuals to tell the government about their knowledge of crimes, according to Solomon Wisenberg of the nationally recognized law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP.
If you enter into one of these agreements, you will proffer information orally in a proffer or queen for a day “session” attended by you, your attorney, the Assistant U.S. Attorney (“AUSA”) and one or more federal agents. A proffer session is a sneak preview in which you show the federal authorities what you can bring to the table if they cut a deal with you, according to Wisenberg.
Mayor DeMaria made a written agreement with Assistant US Attorneys Kristina Barclay and Seth Costo. By doing so, he was permitted to tell the government about his knowledge of crimes, with the supposed assertion that his words would not be used against him as part of a criminal investigation into his actions.
The proffer, as it is called, was signed by the mayor and his attorney at the time, Jeffrey Karp, now a Superior Court judge, according to information the Leader Herald has received.
Last week’s filing in Federal District Court of an amended complaint by Sterling Suffolk, who allege that they should not have lost the casino designation to Wynn, claim that Mayor DeMaria was involved in a scheme to enrich himself with kickbacks and or commissions from a “consultant” who helped to engineer the deal for the 36 acres of polluted land the casino/hotel has risen on.
It is believed this amended motion has once again given a push to the ongoing criminal investigation.
The US Attorney’s office in Boston told the Leader Herald it could neither confirm nor deny the particulars of a proffer agreement which is part of an ongoing investigation.
In a Facebook post on his official site the mayor denied all the charges in the amended Sterling Suffolk complaint.
He did not respond to the Leader Herald to confirm or to deny the new allegations lodged against him in the Sterling Suffolk lawsuit.
“Now we know why he’s been paying so much money every month for criminal attorneys to defend him,” said a local attorney who wished to remain unnamed.
In 2018, the mayor reported paying $18,000 from his campaign account to criminal attorneys at Greenberg Traurig, a major national law firm with offices at International Place in Boston, according to filings his campaign made with the Office of Campaigns and Finance and reported in the Leader Herald.
In 2017, the mayor reported paying $130,000 for criminal attorneys from the same law firm as his campaign reported, expenditures which the Leader Herald confirmed.
It is believed, but unconfirmed, that the mayor is continuing to pay his legal fees for criminal attorneys from his personal funds.
Efforts to confirm or to deny his continued representation with criminal attorneys from Greenberg Traurig were unsuccessful.
The mayor has refused to comment on the allegations of wrongdoing leveled against him.