SEC investigating $75-million loan handed to 38 Studios
The SEC is investigating the $75-million taxpayer-backed loan given to Curt Schilling's 38 Studios by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
According to confirmation received by Providence News channel WPRI and the Providence Journal, the state agency has hired lawyers to answer questions from SEC staff over a five-month period last year - and is apparently still ongoing
"It's unclear what exactly the SEC is investigating about the 38 Studios transaction, which was finalized in the final months of Major Carcieri's second term. A lawsuit filed by the EDC last November alleges two top EDC employees, 38 Studios executives and outside advisers all withheld information from the agency's board to win approval of the deal," state the report via GamePolitics.
Rhode Island lawmakers on the House Committee on Oversight are meeting today to look over documents relating to the loan guarantees handed out to the studio under the state's Job Creation Guaranty Program.
A hearing in an ongoing lawsuit accusing 38 Studios of “fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, racketeering and conspiracy” as well as misleading Rhode Island’s economic development agency is scheduled for September 13.