To Hell and Back — How a Leading RI CEO Fought to Reverse a Federal Conviction

To Hell and Back — How a Leading RI CEO Fought to Reverse a Federal Conviction

One day, David DeQuattro was walking into his office in Providence, coffee in hand, and was greeted by FBI agents. DeQuattro, the President of one of Rhode Island’s most prominent and oldest architectural firms, was shocked to find out he was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

It would be the beginning of an odyssey that would last years and that tested him, his business, and his closest relationships to the core.

His business is RGB, founded in 1946, an award-winning architecture firm whose work has included the terminal at Rhode Island International Airport, The Promenade Apartments, and, ironically, work on the Rhode Island Attorney General's office.

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Rhode Island and New England have hundreds of projects developed by RGB.

In November 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted DeQuattro and the then-chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Cedric Cromwell.  The government’s claim was that DeQuattro allegedly bribed Cromwell. Bribes that included $54,000, a Bowflex home gym, and a suite at a Boston hotel, claimed the government.

For DeQuattro, he was living an unimaginable experience. “I was one of the top 10 architects of the state. I was doing quite a bit of work all over the state. I had a great reputation. It was a great thing that you worked all your life for. I wanted to become an architect since I was six years old,” DeQuattro told GoLocal in a phone interview on Saturday.

Fast forward to 2022, DeQuattro was convicted and later that year sentenced.

It was all a shock. It all hit in the midst of COVID, when his architectural firm was deemed an essential business as it did design work for the government and the United States military.

“The firm was already battling COVID. So we remained open during that time period, although we stretched into two shifts. We were working 16 to 18 hours a day,” said DeQuattro.

COVID was the lesser of the two challenges for RGB.

“As a firm, we have repeat clients; 85% of our clients are repeat clients. And you, you create a relationship with that person to get into your life,” said DeQuattro.

His lawyer, Boston-based defense attorney Martin Weinberg, filed an appeal on DeQuattro’s conviction to the First Circuit.

 

Real Friends

The legal battle went on for years, and the cost of DeQuattro’s defense was taxing — far in excess of $1 million.

“You get to know people really well. There's a lot of great people out there. Great people.  One of the greatest things that has happened throughout this whole thing is it's almost like you wear a set of x-ray glasses, where you can see people for who they are," said DeQauttro. “And I think I did that at a young enough age, where you know who your real friends were. And people that you didn't think would reach out [did], which was amazing. And then other people you thought that were, you know, you thought were trusted friends, [didn't]."

“My wife was there by my side the whole time. She helped tremendously, and we just kind of had our war room in our house. You know, I tried to do work during the day, and you did this stuff [the legal battle] in the evenings and weekends, and that's how [we] handled it,” said DeQuattro.

 

First Circuit Overturned Conviction

After years, ultimately, the First Circuit overturned DeQuattro’s conviction unanimously by the three judges in a 49-page decision.

The decision was handed down in November of 2024.

 

The Justice System

“I believe in the justice system in the United States of America. And I think it's principled on the fact that you're innocent until proven guilty,” said DeQuattro.

“And I've got to say, this is the first circuit. I really believed in the system. And the first circuit, those three judges were pretty phenomenal, that they weren't fighting with the government, that they really looked at things as what they were,” he added.

But, he said, the articles and the Justice Department’s press releases on Google seem to live forever.

“I fight it every day,” said DeQuattro.

“A strength of our firm is the strength of people, and I meant that when I said that because I couldn't have done it without all the people around me. That was a huge, huge thing. When you have that support, whether you can afford an attorney or not, when you have that kind of support, and you believe you're innocent, I think you can fight it,” he said.

“The greatest thing in this country is freedom. Too often, people take it for granted,” said DeQuattro.

“You know, once you've been through that ringer, there's really nothing more other than a fatal disease that is more terrifying and more eye-opening than this experience. So, once you experience something like that, everything else is easy at that point,” said DeQuattro.

The incidents that were the basis of the government’s case took place in 2016, now more than eight years later DeQuattro has his freedom, his friends and his business.

His last words of advice - "enjoy every day."

Now, he just needs to get his reputation back.