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…