Everett mayor wins $1.1 million in defamation case, local newspaper agrees to shut down

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Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said the Everett Leader Herald knowingly fabricated quotes and published false allegations against him.

Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria and his attorneys announced On Monday, they settled a defamation lawsuit The Everett Leader Herald for $1.1 million. A 139-year-old newspaper is to cease publication permanently as a result of a libel settlement.

Three years ago, DeMaria accused Leader Visnyk has been deliberately working to discredit him for several years. The disclosure revealed that the newspaper’s publisher and editor, Joshua Resneck, admitted to fabricating quotes and knowingly reporting false information about DeMaria.

Resnek and Leader Visnyk owner Matthew Philbin engaged in an “extremely blatant conspiracy” when they falsely and knowingly published articles falsely alleging that DeMaria received kickbacks, kickbacks and extortion, DeMaria alleged in an amended complaint filed in 2022.

“Even if the terms of the settlement acquit me of what I said, and they do, the reputational and emotional damage that was done here will never be repaired,” DeMaria said at a news conference.

One of the main purposes of the conspiracy, DeMaria alleged in the complaint, was to remove him from office and protect Philbin’s business interests. Resnek admitted under oath that in 2021 Leader Visnyk worked to “drop bombs” on DeMaria by using the newspaper to falsely accuse him of criminal behavior. This was done right before the mayoral primary, in an apparent attempt to “tilt the election and eliminate” DeMaria.

Resneck admitted to coordinating daily with DeMaria’s political enemies in Everett during that time. According to the complaint, the false stories were sent to other companies owned by Philbin for review, editing and approval in accordance with his business interests before publication.

“Every week, 52 times a year, I invent Leader Visnyk … The mayor is my enemy … It takes me two days every week from important writing to produce this s–t,” Resnek wrote to a colleague, according to the complaint.

The case was scheduled to go to trial Jan. 21 in Middlesex Superior Court, but DeMaria agreed not to proceed with the trial as part of the settlement. The actual settlement agreement is kept secret.

When turned to a Boston Globe reporter and asked if Leader Visnyk has the money to pay the lawsuit, Resnek declined to comment and added, “There could be no settlement without payment.”

DeMaria’s attorneys said the settlement agreement Leader Visnyk related not to the $1.1 million payment but to a separate settlement term.

In 2017, Resnek struck a deal with Philbin that, in addition to a set salary, he would receive a share of any profits from the paper. The Leader Visnyk distributed for free and supported by advertising revenue. The paper has posted annual losses since 2018, and Resneck admitted he was aware of his financial interests in the paper when he wrote reports and articles.

Resneck and Philbin were furious with DeMaria for refusing to use Everett taxpayer money to buy newspaper ads. They believed DeMaria was also responsible for keeping other potential advertisers away from the paper, according to the complaint.

They referred to DeMaria as “Kickback Carlo” and repeatedly published knowingly false information about how the mayor allegedly broke the law, DeMaria alleged.

“(I) feel like I have this fat. I worked for three years to bring him down,” Resneck wrote in a September 2021 email to Philbin, according to the complaint. “I feel like I’m going to crush Mayor Everett with two weeks to go before a heated primary,” he wrote in another email that day.

The Leading Herald website was not available to the public Tuesday morning. Everett is home to two other weekly news agencies, the Everett Attorney and Everett Independent.

In a blog post, Northeastern journalism professor and local media expert Dan Kennedy commented Leader Visnyk and compared it with the recently achieved between ABC News and President-elect Donald Trump. ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s “presidential foundation and museum” to settle a defamation lawsuit.

“Unlike Trump and ABC, you couldn’t find a clearer example true malice“than in the case involving DeMaria,” Kennedy wrote.