Four companies have been caught quietly steering $19,500 into former Everett mayor Carlo DeMaria’s 2025 reelection bid, and the state now wants a lot more money back than they slipped in. The firms have been ordered to return the contributions and fork over roughly $39,000 in civil penalties, according to recently released enforcement letters, as reported by Bisnow.
The questionable checks did not come in brown envelopes. They ran through the mainstream Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, where, investigators say, company-connected donors made contributions that were later reimbursed by their employers or charged to corporate cards. That reimbursement setup is exactly what Massachusetts campaign finance law forbids. State regulators said they had “no reason to believe” DeMaria’s campaign knew the donations were illegal, but the letters have still revived scrutiny of his already controversial finances.
According to state letters and reporting by Bisnow, the four firms are Millwork One Inc., Island Facades, State Electric LLC and Malden-based United Properties. The documents detail how the companies resolved the case by paying back the improper contributions along with penalties: United Properties paid about $13,000, Island Facades $10,000, and both Millwork One and State Electric roughly $8,000 each. The total improper giving clocks in at about $19,500. Bisnow reports the contributions were made during the 2025 campaign cycle and traced through ActBlue.
How The Money Moved
Investigators say individuals used personal ActBlue accounts to make donations that were then reimbursed by their employers or covered using corporate credit cards. On paper, it looked like standard small-donor support. In practice, it matched the classic “straw donor” pattern that state law explicitly bans.
As reported by The Boston Globe, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance ordered DeMaria’s committee to send back the tainted contributions and entered into administrative agreements with the businesses requiring forfeiture payments. Those agreements resolved the case on the civil side, at least for now.
Part Of A Bigger Money Mess
The campaign finance penalties land on top of a separate headache for DeMaria. A state inspector general investigation concluded that Everett overpaid the former mayor roughly $180,000 in longevity bonuses. In a February press release, the Office of the Inspector General laid out how the payments were structured, publicly urged the City Council to recover the funds, and posted its findings on the state website.
Voters weighed in too. DeMaria went on to lose his November 2025 reelection race to Councilor Robert Van Campen, a result covered by CBS Boston. The latest enforcement letters now add campaign cash drama to an already crowded list of financial disputes trailing the former mayor out of office.
What The Law Says, And What Could Come Next
Massachusetts campaign finance rules are not subtle on this point: corporations cannot donate directly to candidates, and contributions cannot be made in someone else’s name. That covers the sort of straw donor activity described in the enforcement letters.
The state’s campaign finance office can order violators to disgorge funds and pay civil penalties. In this case, it negotiated about $39,000 in forfeitures to settle the violations, The Boston Globe reports. While these are administrative agreements rather than criminal charges, such findings can still fuel additional complaints or reviews if new evidence surfaces.
The enforcement letters, dated March 19, direct the four companies to surrender the improper donations and pay the agreed penalties, and DeMaria’s campaign has been instructed to return the money it received. None of the firms responded to requests for comment, Bisnow reports. State officials say they will keep combing through filings and could take further action if anything new turns up.
