38 Studios State Police Tapes — Listen to Interviews With Mattiello, Murphy, Carcieri and Others
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
For the first time, people can hear Rhode Island State Police Troopers interview key players in the 38 Studio debacle -- the $75 million in state funding to former Boston Red Sox World Series hero Curt Schilling for his startup video gaming company that ultimately failed -- and left Rhode Island on the hook.
These audio interviews were secured for public review as a result of the GoLocalProv.com lawsuit in 2016 and are now finally available -- six years after 38 Studios collapsed.
Hear the interviews by the State Police with Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, former Speaker William Murphy, former Governor Don Carcieri, Paul Choquette, Jr., vice chairman of Gilbane, and former Hasbro Chairman Al Verrecchia.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn October 2016, GoLocalProv.com filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and State Police Colonel Kevin Barry for the release of the State Police interviews and notes relating to the 38 Studios investigation.
Barry was sued in his role as acting Superintendent of the State Police and as acting Director of Public Safety.
READ THE LAWSUIT BELOW
In the complaint filed in Superior Court, GoLocal asserted, “There is high public interest to access the items included within the GoLocalProv APRA request. As the Attorney General stated, 38 Studios involved 'bad politics, bad public policy, and bad business decisions.'"
In 2017, the State Police began to release documents and now, the tapes -- which raise many questions about the deal and the subsequent investigation.
SPEAKER NICK MATTIELLO - Listen to Interview
Mattiello in his interview told Detective Corporal Kenneth Buonaiuto of the State Police Financial Crimes Unit held at the RI State Police HQ, “I'm not sure if that was being put together while I was on Finance or I was already the Majority Leader while that was being put together, I - I don't know, you'd have to look at the dates and see where I was - whether I was leader or not.”
“I don't remember working on that. I mean, my - my best recollection is that was Steve Costantino's baby, he was working on it, and uh, and it was in the - originally, I know it was in the supplemental budget, and that got returned by the senate. And then while it got returned by the senate, I think the chairman pulled it out and made it an individual bill that ultimately got passed on the House floor,” said Mattiello.
Mattiello is asked by the Trooper if as Speaker (at the time of the interview) if he had asked members about the House about the deal.
“I - no, I, I never did. Because my belief is at the time I remember Steve Costantino. And I never talked to him about whether he knew, by the way, so this is just my feeling. He was very - he was very active with that bill. It seemed to, he seemed like he was working on something important. And he, he was having his own discussions with the Speaker that I was absolutely cut out off. So I -- I mean, I was the Majority Leader, I wasn't going to question the Speaker as to what he was doing, and - I mean, if they want to have a private conversation and, exclude me, I'm just not part of that conversation and, and, you know, that's how things work. Especially back then, I was very, very new to the position, and I was - I was still getting - I was still getting my feet wet, and uh, 1-1 just remember Steven being very busy and I know it - I know it passed, so, you know, and, you know, from the after reports, I - I know that Gordon knew about it. So I'm - I'm pretty sure Steven knew about it."
Mattiello and Corso
When asked if he had worked with Micheal Corso, a central figure in 38 Studios controversy, Mattiello said, "If I ran -- If I ran into him on the street I'd probably say hello not knowing who he was...Um, I've seen his picture in the paper, but honestly, I've never seen him in person, I'd probably walk by him in person and not know who he was."
GOVERNOR DONALD CARCIERI - Listen to Interview
In his interview with Detective Trooper Buonaiuto, Carcieri said that there was tremendous due diligence by RI Economic Development Corporation - the predecessor to Commerce RI.
"These were not public, these were private meetings with the EDC staff, with some of the people from 38 Studios' side, their management team, just really going through this thing in - in great detail. And that's why I was always kind of upset that the notion that somehow this just happened quickly and there wasn't a lot of due diligence. No, a lot of work went into this -- on the Board's part, on - and on the EDC's team part. So it was over several months, and I think the final vote was sometime in the summer, if I recall, of 2010," said Carcieri.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE WILLIAM MURPHY - Listen to the Interview
Murphy was one of the key players in the introduction of Schilling's company to Rhode Island decision-makers, including then-Speaker of the House Gordon Fox.
Murphy's interview with the Rhode Island State Police took just four minutes.
Trooper Question: "Okay. So you don't-you don't remember that particular bill coming to the floor then, and -- and ..."
Murphy Response: "I wasn't ...[there for the vote]"
Trooper Question: "Were you present."
Murphy Response: "Yeah, I wasn't present."
Trooper Question: "Okay. Well what knowledge of the bill do you have at all, you know, first-hand knowledge"
Murphy Response: "Um, well at - at this point I'm not going to answer questions, and, and here's - here's why.
Trooper Question: Yeah.
Murphy Response: "I'm representing Speaker Fox [in his criminal matter with the then-U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha]"
AL VERRECCHIA, HASBRO - Listen to the Interview
As GoLocal reported, Al Verrecchia played a complex role in the approval of the 38 Studios funding, At the time of the vote, he was a Chairman of the Board of Hasbro and a member of the EDC board -- the body that approved the $75 million in funding to Schilling's 38 Studios.
In 2007, Hasbro signed a major partnership agreement with Electronic Arts (EA) — an agreement that would help transform the Rhode Island toy company from a product-based manufacturing company to an interactive and entertainment-focused multi-billion business. The deal has been worth hundreds of millions for the two companies. The CEO of Hasbro at the time was Verrecchia.
EA is the same company that had a major partnership and investment in 38 Studios. In a document released by Judge Michael Silverstein, a May 2010 memo was included that outlined the multi-million deal between EA and 38 Studios for the funding of $50 million and royalty structure that could exceed $100 million. The EA agreement was material to the state of Rhode Island’s financing. Of course, the state’s financing of $75 million to 38 Studios was a de facto a stabilizing force to EA.
Read more on Verrecchia's overlapping roles. The Troopers interviewing Verrecchia seem to be unaware of the business relationship between Hasbro and EA, but were aware of the 38 Studios and EA relationship.
PAUL CHOQUETTE, GILBANE, INC -- Listen to the interview
Former EDC board member Paul Choquette told the Trooper, "I think some of the negative reports that have flushed out apparently, you know, through my conversations with Max - Max Wistow, there were some negative reports from some of the consultants and even some of the individuals within...EDC itself, and those were never brought to our attention. I mean, it was always, you know, a positive story: jobs for Rhode Island, high paying jobs for Rhode Island, let's go, let's go, let's go. There was never any second-guessing: too much money, how are we going to do it, it was just - it was a - it was a - an environment where nobody was asking the hard questions in retrospect."
Related Slideshow: GoLocal’s Attorney Dickinson Appeals to Gain Release of State Police 38 Studios Documents
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