Curt Schilling, 38 Studios, and Rhode Island

Meanwhile, Col. Steven G. O'Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, says that his agency, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Rhode Island attorney general "are working together to investigate activities that have recently come to light at 38 Studios."

cmon "curt schilling is a sex trafficker" sideplot

well RI has already had its laws changed by anti human trafficking pressure groups, for instance the legal prostitution loophole was closed a couple years ago

haha m bison

i feel like this is the right thread to tell the world that i would love to play a baseball RPG

omg if he went to jail that would be the greatest thing ever.

btw, what i got out of reading some articles on the providence journal's site is that 38 managed to secure an $8.5 million cash loan from a bank with $14.5 million in PROMISED tax credits??? how the fuck can you use theoretical tax credits (which i imagine assumes that you're making enough money as a company to even owe $14 million in taxes it he first place) to secure a cash loan?

i know shit about the financial industry but isn't that fraud?

haha yeah i think that's what the police / FBI investigation is gonna be about. well, that and state political corruption leading up to the initial EDC loan guarantee, probably?

seems like when youre engaging in corruption its prob a good idea to stay away from celebrities as they tend to generate headlines

thought u were suposed to be pro at this rhodey

ha my manager hipped me to buddy cianci, i'd love to hear his radio show these days

i feel like this is the right thread to tell the world that i would love to play a baseball RPG

― Mordy, Thursday, June 7, 2012 2:34 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there have definitely been baseball MMOs, they all look hilariously low-budget and ive never played them

thousands of virtual people roaming the mediaeval countryside playing baseball against each other

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken's_Real_Baseball

there have been tons of stat-based baseball board games - there have got to be video game RPGs out there

When investing in celebrity-founded gamedev studios, stick with Vin Diesel's.

curious how 38 studios could possibly owe north of $150 million to over 1,000 creditors? here's some light reading from their chapter 7 filing: http://www2.turnto10.com/mgmedia/file/552/38-studios-creditors-holding-unsecured-nonpriority/

their office lease is $10m. that seems a bit high, doesn't it?

what a mess

yeah i saw that--they've been there for a while and it seems like they may have never paid rent, or actually every paid for anything?

pay for everything with loans, set up in prime real estate, generate no income for years while hiring expensive talent. who could have foreseen the failure of such a flawless strategy?

lock everyone responsible inside a dilapidated house in south providence and torch it

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/06/08/could-big-huge-games-have-saved-38-studios/

Citizen's bank has filed a lawsuit against Schilling for $2.4m

The RI EDC and Bank Rhode Island have both been subpoenaed in the investigation over the company's collapse

Also:

A confidential investment memo obtained by GoLocalProv reveals in painstaking and dramatic detail the true risks of the 38 Studios venture back in 2009—in marked contrast with the highly optimistic picture that consultants and staff presented to board members of the state Economic Development Corporation one year later.

The document, technically known as a Private Placement Memo, was issued on May 1, 2009 by 38 Studios in a bid to secure $25 million in investment funds. The memo pulls no punches in describing the investment opportunity as “highly speculative and inherently risky.” It warns that membership interests in the company should be purchased only by those “who can afford to lose their entire investment.”

http://www.golocalprov.com/news/investigation-edc-board-kept-in-dark-on-true-risks-of-38-studios/

hilarious and insane.

excerpted memos here: http://www.golocalprov.com/news/secret-documents-see-copies/

Gamasutra received the letter below on Tuesday evening. In it, the wife of a former 38 Studios employee describes a uniquely heart-wrenching story about uprooting a five-person family for an exciting new opportunity in Rhode Island, where now-defunct 38 Studios was located.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/172303/38_Studios_Spouse_speaks_out.php

that story is pretty fucked

disgusting behavior

something about that picture of the superfan with the bloody sock is putting me in mind of all those fake relic salesmen in the late middle ages

waving the bloody sock

BOSTON -- Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling said Friday that the collapse of his 38 Studios video game company has probably cost him his entire baseball fortune, and he placed part of the blame on Rhode Island officials, including Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

Schilling said during a 90-minute interview on WEEI-FM in Boston that he put more than $50 million of his own money in the company and that he's had to tell his family that "the money I saved during baseball was probably all gone."

"I'm tapped out," he said.

lol

"You could hang yourself!"

http://images.wikia.com/avenueq/images/5/54/Bad_Idea_Bears.jpg

He should go on the road with Pete Rose.

oh come on, dude has a secret cache of gold bullion somewhere and we all know it

what kind of dummy puts all of his money into any one thing, unless that one thing is a magic money copying machine

haha for sure, both schilling and the RI EDC both were like, "wow, this basket is huge! i bet we can all fit all of our eggs in it!"

tbh I think if you manage to tank a state's economy, you should have to go down with it, so I am very light on sympathy for Herr Schilling

the night they drove old rhodie down
all the nerds were lollin

afaict schilling is blaming state officials for the collapse because the RI EDC promised in a letter to 38 studios that they would grant 38 more film tax credits for it to sell to generate revenue -- except the EDC had no authority to promise the tax credits and cannot be held legally responsible for not doing so. i don't know how the blame for this falls on chaffee tbh but oh well

chaffee is the little boy in this emperor's new clothes story, seems like

obtaining more bank loans against future revenues to be generated from selling tax credits promised by an entity lacking the authority to grant them... this is not a good business model

i read that schilling had ~80% ownership of 38 studios fwiw

chaffee is the little boy in this emperor's new clothes story, seems like

― goole, Friday, June 22, 2012 11:40 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah totally

Wait, the film credits were going to be for pr0n, right?

Emails obtained by The Associated Press under a public records request show that J. Michael Saul, who was managing director of financial services for the state Economic Development Corp. at the time, asked the chief financial officer of 38 Studios, Rick Wester, about a finance director position in December 2010. Saul also inquired about working there as chief operating officer.

The financing deal between 38 Studios and the EDC was finalized on Nov. 2, according to the emails.

"On a separate note and very confidentially I am beginning to investigate my next opportunity," Saul wrote to Wester in a message sent from his EDC email account. "I do not know whether there might be a fit with 38 but I attach my resume as well."

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2012/07/rhode_island_official_sought_j.html

http://media.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/photo/11276565-large.jpg

WOULD YOU TRUST THIS MAN??

I do not know whether there might be a fit with 38 but I attach my resume as well.

with this, i thee attach