A new investigation is being launched by a state committee with explosive allegations of corruption, mismanagement of public funds, and attempting to destroy evidence, among other things, by leadership at the Massachusetts Convention Center.

Documents provided exclusively to the Herald show the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight will be calling on leadership at the Seaport center to provide information and documents related to the allegations.

The committee has sent a summons letter to MCCA CEO Marcel Vernon, who was appointed to the position after the timing of these allegations, in October 2024, to curb reports of racial bias and discrimination. Vernon responded to the letter, sent by state Senator and Committee Chair Mark Montigny, saying he welcomes the summons.

“As Justice Brandeis observed, sunlight is the best disinfectant. In my opinion as someone who was hired a little over a year ago to try to start addressing the very problems that the Committee has correctly identified as troubling ones, the investigation announced today by the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight is a welcome, much-needed initiative to help root out the historic, all-too-entrenched issues faced by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority,” Vernon said.

“I regard this investigation as very important, and necessary and I regard the Committee as an ally of those of us who have been working to reform the Authority. There will no doubt be some who will try to impede the investigation. I will not be one of them. Like the Committee, I believe that the public is entitled to complete transparency about this subject, and I intend to work actively to help the Committee achieve that transparency,” he said.

The letter from Montigny addresses a laundry list of concerns the committee is investigating, including bombshell corruption allegations among leadership at the MCCA related to procuring contracts, surveilling employees without their consent, hiring outside law firms and private investigators to gather information on employees, and destroying  physical and electronic evidence, among other things.

“Please describe the use of MCCA resources by the Chief Information Security Officer to investigate and surveil Authority employees without authorization. Please describe the justification, processes and procedures to access, monitor and delete information from MCCA employee emails and accounts, as well as accessing employee laptop cameras and microphones,” the summons letter requested. “Please also describe the internal MCCA rules or regulations that would permit the Chief Information Security Officer to utilize such practices.”

The letter also implicated former Chief Financial Officer Mike Esmond in making multiple withdrawals from the Convention Center Fund between 2023 and 2025 and using separate accounts in order to subvert the statutory cap on taxpayer subsidies for MCCA administrative and operational spending. The former CFO is also allegedly behind questionable high-cost overruns through change orders under the Capital Projects division.

Allegations of misconduct spread even further into the Authority. Leadership and security personnel at the MCCA are accused of attempting to destroy physical and electronic records. The committee says in August 2023, the then-Chief Information Security Officer, Director of Technical Operations, and the Lead IT Support Services Technician swapped out MCCA employee laptops for new IT equipment in the midst of two open investigations into the Authority.

Montigny’s letter addresses how the MCCA recently closed a bid on a contract for “a complete overhaul of its IT security system and server,” and orders that the dismantling of the Authority’s current IT security system and firewall “be put on hold indefinitely.”

“Given that records are stored in devices as well as IT security systems, servers, and firewalls, the Committee requests that the dismantling of the Authority’s current IT security system and firewall be put on hold indefinitely pending the outcome of this investigation,” Montigny wrote, before going on to request the documents be recovered by an outside expert approved by the Secretary of State’s Office to ensure no Authority employees can get to them.

“We similarly request that the Authority preserve all data currently stored in its current IT security system. Finally, to protect the integrity of the Authority’s internal records in accordance with the public records law and this investigation, the committee hereby requests that the Authority bring on an outside expert, approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Supervisor of Public Records, to recover the public records identified in the Auditor’s report and those identified in Attachment A,” he continued. “No Authority personnel listed in Attachment A shall be involved in the production of these records and any attempt by said individuals to interfere with this investigation will be referred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

Montigny and the committee are ordering the requested records be delivered within two weeks, setting a deadline of December 19.

The new investigation comes just days after the Herald reported that Vernon and other MCCA officials have been called to testify before the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion on efforts to curb racial bias and discrimination from the Authority.

Montigny’s office declined a Boston Herald request for comment.