WEEKLY SCREWSPAPER

‘Bought to bash foe with lies’

The mayor of a Boston suburb claims a wealthy Massachusetts family bought a 138-year-old newspaper and used it to generate fake stories to slam him — and, according to court documents, the paper’s reporter allegedly admitted his incendiary articles were “all made up.”

Andrew Philbin and his son, Matthew, have allegedly held a decades-long grudge against Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who was an alderman in the 1990s when he rejected the family’s operating permits for boarding houses, according to court documents.

The Philbins sought revenge in 2017 by buying the Everett Leader Herald — a weekly founded in 1885 — “for the primary purpose of having a vehicle through which to publicly attack” the mayor, court papers allege.

Damning emails bared

The Philbins hired a muckraking reporter, Josh Resnek, who allegedly testified in a court deposition that he made up quotes and concocted stories about DeMaria — among them that he took bribes from casino magnate Steve Wynn and paid off women who accused him of sexual assault.

Court documents cite a December 2020 email from Resnek to Matthew Philbin which is alleged to have read: “We will crush this guy (DeMaria). We are crushing this guy. He’s had 12 years to build himself up. We’re into our second full year of trying to take him out.”

In a Sept. 6, 2021, email from Resnek to Matthew Philbin, the reporter is alleged by court documents to have written: “[I] think I have this fat f--ker. I’ve been working for three years to bring him down.”

When asked under oath about his articles claiming DeMaria got kickbacks and extorted individuals out of tens of thousands of dollars, Resnek is alleged to have confessed that it was “all made up.”

When asked by DeMaria’s attorneys if stories alleging wrongdoing by DeMaria were “100% fabricated,” Resnek is alleged to have replied: “Yes, sir.”

In a response to the claims laid out in the amended lawsuit, Resnek “denies the conclusory allegations and characterizations drawn from the testimony” and noted his deposition is “not yet completed.”

The Philbins are also alleged to have hired a private investigator to “secretly surveil” DeMaria and his family, according to court documents. In January 2021, Matthew Philbin is alleged to have texted Resnek: “Fatty is in Arizona with the in-laws.”

The Philbins denied all of the allegations contained in court papers, including the assertion that the boardinghouses “violated any . . . rules or regulations.”

Resnek continues to work as an independent contractor for the Everett Leader Herald, a source said. The paper has no full-time employees, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Philbins, Resnek and DeMaria didn’t respond to requests for comment.