Carlo DeMaria: Massachusetts mayor shut down newspaper over fake stories. Now he faces corruption allegations
Alternate AP headline at Boston.com: Libel, hidden payments, and alleged corruption: The saga of Everett’s embattled mayor
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Source: Associated Press
Libel, hidden payments, and alleged corruption: The saga of Everett’s embattled mayor
By MICHAEL CASEY
Updated 8:24 AM EDT, March 28, 2025
EVERETT, Mass. (AP) — For years, the mayor of a Boston suburb dreaded Wednesdays. That was the day when a local weekly would publish shocking allegations that he was on the take, sexually harassing women or under investigation by the FBI.
Friends trashed Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria on Facebook over what the Everett Leader Herald printed. His father threatened to disown him — over stories the mayor knew were lies.
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Almost everything the paper wrote about DeMaria turned out to be fake, enabling him to win a $1.1 million settlement in December that finally shut down the nearly 140-year-old paper.
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After a lengthy investigation, the Inspector General concluded in February that DeMaria colluded with his finance officer and budget director to retroactively get $180,000 from 2016 to 2021, hiding the payments within other line-items. The IG also concluded that DeMaria may have violated state ethics law by participating in the drafting and approval of the ordinance that padded his pay.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/everett-mayor-defamation-lawsuit-newspaper-1de803321758f8f907e9faedf16f76aa