ML Strategies guiding Wynn through long permit process
Steve Wynn isn't afraid to gripe about Massachusetts bureaucracy: After all, permit requirements have delayed the start of construction on the gambling mogul's $1.7 billion casino in Everett.
But the Boston lobbying firm working for Wynn probably won't be complaining anytime soon.
That's because ML Strategies, a subsidiary of the law firm Mintz Levin that's led by Steve Tocco, is racking up the fees from Wynn. The more permits required for Wynn Resorts, the more work that comes Tocco's way.
In fact, the amount of money Wynn has sent to ML Strategies has essentially doubled in the first six months of the year, compared with the same time in 2014, when Wynn was competing with Mohegan Sun for the sole Boston-area casino license.
Records on file with Secretary of State Bill Galvin's office show Wynn has spent $425,500 on lobbying with ML Strategies through June 30, compared with $231,500 during the first half of 2014 and $465,000 for the entire year.
Wynn won the license in September. So why is ML Strategies busier than ever now, working on the Wynn account?
"One thing is securing the license," Tocco said. "Now we have to get through the regulatory and permitting process to be able to build the thing. . . . This is the biggest private development in the history of Massachusetts."
Other casino companies spent far less in the first half of the year. MGM Resorts paid $65,000 to Brown Rudnick for help in developing a casino in Springfield, and Penn National Gaming spread $49,000 among several firms as it prepared to open a slots parlor in Plainville.
Tocco said he tries to catalog all of his firm's work for Wynn as lobbying with Galvin's office, just to be on the safe side, even if much of it technically isn't lobbying.
"If you've never built in this environment, it can be overwhelming," Tocco said of developing in Greater Boston. "$1.7 billion of private investments in a polluted site, on the waterfront? Yeah, [it's] complicated. Very complicated." — JON CHESTO
‘Banking cop’ Antonakes is heading to Eastern Bank
After years as one of the state and federal government's top banking cops, Steven L. Antonakes has taken a job inside a bank.
Massachusetts-based Eastern Bank said Monday that it had hired Antonakes as its chief compliance officer. He is fresh from his post as second-in-command of the federal C onsumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Eastern Bank's chairman, Richard Holbrook, took a victory lap over landing Antonakes.
"I can't think of anyone in America who is better to fill the role," Holbrook said.
The state's largest community bank, with $9.7 billion in assets, is growing and hopes to double in size in the next decade. "We need people to help us manage through that."
Antonakes's experience is likely to help the bank as it hits the $10 billion mark in the next 18 months, a point that triggers additional scrutiny from regulators, including the CFPB.
The watchdog agency, established after the financial crisis, was the brainchild of US Senator Elizabeth Warren. Until July, Antonakes was its deputy director. He had served as Massachusetts banking commissioner for seven years until 2010. In resigning from the federal agency last month, Antonakes, a father of five, said he was weary of the commute between Boston and Washington.
Eastern Bank declined to comment on Antonakes' pay. — DEIRDRE FERNANDES
SimpliVity gets new CFO, which can’t hurt if it goes public
If you're wondering whether a company is planning for an initial public offering of stock, one of your best clues can be found in the CFO's office.
Before filing for an IPO, startups often hire veteran chief financial officers with years of experience in the public markets.
SimpliVity, a fast-growing Westborough company that simplifies information technology for corporate users, seems to be the latest to follow the trend.
SimpliVity just recruited Tom Beaudoin away from the CFO's role at Nuance Communications, the speech-recognition technology company in Burlington.
Beaudoin described his decision to join SimpliVity as a way to play a leadership role in a potentially disruptive technology.
For SimpliVity chief executive Doron Kempel, Beaudoin's breadth of experience — he was a president and CFO at Polaroid before joining Nuance — will help the company prepare for a potential IPO in 2016.
SimpliVity has a number of big-name venture capital investors, including Charles River Ventures, Accel Partners, and DFJ, and is now worth more than $1 billion.
"The company is growing very fast, and we need a CFO who knows what it's like to run a public company," Kempel said. "We need to prepare for that play in 2016. We're not promising anything, but we need to be prepared." — JON CHESTO
A healthy dose of zen in Downtown Crossing
The public relations firm that's behind Narragansett Beer and Anna's Taqueria may not seem like the most likely host for talks on meditation and acupuncture. But when the owner of marlo marketing in Downtown Crossing takes an interest in something, her instinct is, of course, to spread the word.
Marlo Fogelman is something of an alternative-health nut, and in an attempt to educate herself and others about what's out there, she has booked speakers to make presentations at her office and is inviting the public to attend for free.
The first class, on yoga, is on Wednesday, taught by the creator of the wellness site Om Gal, Rebecca Pacheco. The next one, on Sept. 21, features nutrition expert Lyn-Genet Recitas, best-selling author of "The Plan," about how a person's body chemistry reacts with foods.
Also on the agenda: "Chinese Medicine For Dummies," led by Flourish Boston's Amy Jo Gengler, and a meditation seminar from "Boston Buddha" Andy Kelley.
"I've never been one to take pills. I hate taking pills," said Fogelman, who replaced the office coffee maker with a kombucha dispenser, brought in a mini trampoline, and has a massage therapist come in once a month.
Fogelman is also planning an alternative health series for next year. One possible concept: healing for dogs. — KATIE JOHNSTON
Tom Brady, ticklish? Nope — at least not on his feet
Just when you thought you knew everything about Tom Terrific — from his pending country club membership to the color of his pool cover — there's more.
Here's the dirt on, well, his feet.
Ron O'Neil, head trainer for the New England Patriots for 19 years and the man who taped Tom Brady's feet for his first Super Bowl and many games thereafter, said that most people are ticklish, including athletes, and squirm a bit when it's time to cut the athletic tape off their feet at the end of a game.
Brady is not one of them.
"He's not ticklish, at least on his feet," said O'Neil, now a consultant to Andover Health Care in Salisbury, which manufactures sports tape. "I can't speak for the other parts of his body," he said. — MEGAN WOOLHOUSE
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E-mail Bold Types at boldtypes@globe.com.