Page 8 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, AugusT 18, 2023 RESNEK | FROM PAGE 1 text to Mrs. Cornelio that he would be placing a quarter page ad for her city councillor campaign in the next edition, which “will be distributed to every home.” “Let me know about Sergio giving Andrea [Estes] a call or her giving him a call. Thanks. The ad is on Matt [Philbin] and I – don’t pay attention to billing. Keep campaigning.” During September, emails between Resnek and Philbin suggest that the two were providing the city clerk’s mother with free political ads for her campaign. In a Sept. 21, 2021, email from Resnek to Philbin and James Mahoney, the former page designer and photographer for the newspaper, Resnek states, “Matt – we’ve taken care of Mrs. Cornelio as suggested/directed.” For Philbin and Resnek, they needed her son, City Clerk Sergio Cornelio, to work with them in order to embarrass the mayor – stating in their Sept. 2021 stories that Cornelio was extorted out of $96,000 in a real estate land deal, falsely claiming the mayor had nothing to do with the property sale and development, but wanted his money under threats to Cornelio’s clerk budget funding, among others. For months leading up to the 2021 election, the allegations made by Resnek, along with fabricated quotes he wrote and attributed to the city clerk, claimed the mayor was strong-arming him over the Corey Street land deal. But early on, Resnek and Philbin were wining and dining Cornelio and his parents, particularly his mother, on separate dinner dates with Philbin and his brother Andrew, and again, with Estes in order to provide information about the mayor’s “extortion plot” against Cornelio. Resnek needed the Globe to amplify his lies in order to create what he described as a holocaust of the mayor’s reelection chances. Prior to the publication of the Sept. 2021 Corey Street land deal stories, Philbin, as well as Estes, were looking for the closing documents as well as a copy of the $96K check to use as the proverbial smoking gun that Cornelio failed to provide. In his May 3, 2022, deposition, Cornelio testified that Resnek called him a couple of times, but never asked him any questions about the land deal with the mayor and never asked for any documents relating to the transaction. Cornelio stated that the quotes attributed to him in the articles were fabricated and that he never accused the mayor of extortion. “They weren’t mine,” testifi ed Cornelio to the mayor’s attorney. Cornelio testified that he never told anyone from the Leader Herald that the mayor was legally involved in the land deal but believed that Philbin and Resnek already knew, even stating that Resnek had told him that he knew of the mayor’s “general involvement” and that he had told Philbin that he sold the property to someone the mayor knew. Cornelio would later testify that Resnek, in an approximately six-minute meeting at his offi ce, did all the talking, saying to Cornelio that the mayor was trying to be involved in the property deal. Asked why he didn’t just tell Resnek that the mayor was involved from the very beginning, Cornelio said that he didn’t get to say anything in that meeting with Resnek – “It was statements being made with me being – sitting there.” Cornelio would eventually sell the property to a buyer brought by DeMaria, after deciding not to sell to three potential buyers – Greg Antonelli, Atty. Anthony Rossi and Guy Manganiello – saying he didn’t want to develop the property or take on developing partners. Antonelli offered only $1.2 million, according to Cornelio; conversations with Rossi never developed into anything; and Manganiello wanted to partner up. Then a buyer, Mr. Grossman, whom the mayor found, paid $1.3 million for the property. What’s the truth got to do with it? During Philbin’s third deposition, on Aug. 8, 2023, Atty. Jeffrey Robbins asked Philbin if he knew that a judge had ruled that the land deal between the mayor and Cornelio was indeed legitimate despite it being published to the contrary. At fi rst Philbin denied knowing if his newspaper published articles that were untruthful, especially in pertinence to the land deal, until he was shown an exhibit of a March 11, 2022, copy of a memorandum and ruling by Middlesex Superior Court Associate Justice Hon. James Boudreau which declared the land deal between the mayor and Cornelio was legal. Atty. Robbins asked Philbin to read the copy of the ruling by Judge Boudreau, which stated: “Based upon the content of the above referenced communications between the parties and Attorney O’Neil and the facts identifi ed below, “the Court fi nds by clear and convincing evidence that: (a) that the parties had a common interest in purchasing, developRESNEK | SEE PAGE 9
9 Publizr Home