Federal Lawsuit – Everett Leader Herald

The Federal Investigation

Leader Staff

Of all the events to capture our imaginations, the announcement by the US Attorney some months back in 2022 of a Federal Investigation into racism, discrimination and retaliation in Everett city government was a big moment.

Such investigations aren’t announced without good cause to believe an investigation is, in fact, warranted.

However, many questions arise time and again among those Everett people piqued by the idea that the federal government is pouring over records from Everett City Hall for the past five years.

What will happen if illegality is found?

Can public officials be indicted?

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The Federal Investigation

Any way the mayor chooses to look at it, to describe it, to pass it off as nothing he can’t and won’t ultimately slip out of, the Federal investigation announced last week by US Attorney Rachel Rollins is very likely to rock this city government to its core.

It might very well lead to the mayor’s resignation or worse, a battle with the US Attorney he and his many lawyers cannot possibly win.

The US Attorney does not act whimsically.

Rollins is as tough and as sharp as they come.

She will shortly come to understand the lay of the land in this city. Rollins will find that Everett remains locked in the past when it comes to the old boys network that manages the city – the nearly all-white and racist voices that occupy some of the most important positions in city government and who all report to the mayor.

Rollins will also find that not everyone in Everett follows the mayor’s lead.

City hall employees, other than a number of key department heads who take their orders from the mayor or his enforcers, are a solid group of people just trying to do their jobs and to serve the people and to get on with their lives like everyone else.

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Former Wynn official caught in college admission’s scandal

By JOSH RESNEK

A former high-ranking Wynn Resorts official, Gamal Abdelaziz, who was one of the key players when Mayor Carlo DeMaria was trying to bring the casino here, is being tried in Federal District Court.

The crime?

Gamal Abdelaziz conspired with William Singer, a college admissions fraudster. Singer aided Abdelaziz’s child to be admitted to the University of Southern California as a basketball player when she was not good enough to play for the university.

Abdelaziz paid Singer hundreds of thousands of dollars to have his daughter admitted.

Mr. Singer told Abdelaziz and many others that they could bypass the regular admissions process by presenting their children as athletic recruits, and he falsified or embellished their credentials so they could do that, the prosecutor said in Federal District Court in Boston where the trial is into its second week.

Abdelaziz had numerous contacts with DeMaria during the initial period when Wynn Resorts got involved in Boston.

Abdelaziz is a major casino figure in the industry.

He has denied any wrong- doing telling prosecutors: “He thought Singer was legitimate,” Brian T. Kelly, the lawyer for Mr. Abdelaziz, said in his opening statement in Boston federal court. “He had no inkling that Singer was a skilled con man.”

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Mayor is a subject in Federal lawsuit

By Josh Resnek

The mayor has again been singled out for apparently conspiring with Wynn Resorts to help Steve Wynn gain a Massachusetts casino gaming license.

Lawyers representing Sterling Suffolk in its $1 billion lawsuit against Wynn Resorts said Monday in Federal District Court that justice must be done to right a wrong in the award of a gaming license to Wynn Resorts.

Sterling Suffolk is fighting a motion by Wynn’s lawyers to have its lawsuit dismissed.

US District Court Judge Patti Saris took the matter under advisement following pleas made by both sides.

She is expected to rule within 4-6 weeks.

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