Corrente’s Connections to 38 Studios Lawyer Corso
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Filmmaker Michael Corrente, who has been named as a chief player in the Anybody but Cianci movement -- and has now found to be subject of a $5.8 million lawsuit -- also has close ties to embattled 38 Studios lawyer Michael Corso.
In 2012, Corso had pledged more than $14 million in Rhode Island motion picture tax credits that had not actually been issued as collateral in order to obtain an $8.5 million loan for Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios.
Corso, a top tax credit broker whose loan agreement with BankRI was among several 38 Studios-related matters investigated by state and federal authorities, was one of seven producers along with Corrente for “Backmask,” a horror film shot in Exeter.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCritics questioned where the tax credits were going to at the time, saying the film tax program only benefits a small number of connected individuals.
“They just go to the same crew of people,” said State Representative Charlene Lima at the time. “Without any transparency, people don't see how it's only the connected people that are the ones getting all the tax credits.”
Corso backed other local projects including "Loosies" and "Inkubus," two movies which received over $300,000 in local tax credits since 2010. Corso sold tax credits for those two films and as well as "Infected," which received $640,185 in credits from the state.
38 Studios Connections
Corso was at the center of the 2010 deal that brought Schilling’s company to Rhode Island. In March of that year, former Economic Development Corporation (EDC) executive director Keith Stokes and House Speaker Gordon Fox, a personal friend of Corso's, met with Schilling and 38 Studios director Tom Zaccagnino about bringing the video game company to Rhode Island.
The rest is history -- the General Assembly approved legislation two months later that expanded the EDC’s Job Creation Guaranty Program from $50-$125 million.
The following January, Corso secured an $8.5 million loan from BankRI by putting up $14.3 million in film tax credits as collateral. Corso and Schilling claim the state reneged on a deal for the credits after the company failed to make a $1.125 million payment due to the EDC on May 1, 2012. The company went bankrupt soon thereafter.
Former Ocean State Tea Party in Action president Lisa Blais called at the time had called for the tax credits to be halted.
“While the rule is innocent until proven guilty, the fact that this insider's name keeps popping up with tax credits should be create enough question to pause,” she said. “It also underscores that presumably many ‘non-VIPs’ have been turned away for tax credits to start or grow business or generate economic activity in other ways in RI.”
Related Slideshow: INVESTIGATION: Fox, Corso and 38 Studios
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