Commerce Corporation Reaches $25.6 Million Dollar Settlement Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. in 38 Studios Lawsuit

Rhode Island Commerce Corporation Reaches $25.6 Million Dollar Settlement Wells
Fargo Securities, LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. in 38 Studios Lawsuit
Deal would bring total settlements to more than $42 million to date in ongoing 38
Studios litigation
Commerce Corporation remains engaged in litigation against other defendants,
including First Southwest Company and Curt Schilling

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (August 23, 2016) – The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation announced
today it has agreed to a $25.625 million proposed settlement with Wells Fargo
Securities, LLC & Barclays Capital Inc. in the 38 Studios litigation. The settlement
was filed in Rhode Island Superior Court today and is contingent upon court
approval.
If the Court approves the settlement, the Corporation will have obtained settlements
totaling more than $42 million in the ongoing 38 Studios litigation, nearly half of
the roughly $88 million state moral obligation on 38 Studios bonds for both past and
future appropriations.
The settlement is a product of a court-ordered mediation conducted by retired
Superior Court Justice Francis J. Darigan, Jr. and the efforts of our counsel in the
38 Studios Litigation, Max Wistow, Stephen Sheehan, and Benjamin Ledsham.
The Corporation previously settled claims against Antonio Afonso, Jr. and Moses
Afonso Ryan Ltd. for $4.37 million in June 2014 and Adler, Pollock & Sheehan P.C.,
Robert I. Stoltzman, J. Michael Saul, and Keith W. Stokes for $12.5 million in
August 2015.
The Corporation is still engaged in litigation against other defendants who are not
included in this or prior settlements, including First Southwest Company, Starr
Indemnity and Liability Company, Curt Schilling, Thomas Zaccagnino, Richard Wester,
and Jennifer MacLean. That litigation will go forward in order to further reduce
the taxpayers’ potential exposure on the remaining moral obligation.