PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A state Senate committee opened hearings Tuesday into Rhode Island’s $75 million deal with Curt Schilling’s failed video game company, 38 Studios.

The Senate Committee on Government Oversight was briefed on the status of the lawsuit over the deal. It reviewed details of the loan guarantee program used to get 38 Studios its money.

Chairman James Sheehan said the committee is looking into what went wrong so senators can prevent similar deals.

“The public certainly deserves to know what happened and I think we’ve gone a long way to figuring that out,” he said. “I think the next step is to recover as much of the money lost in that deal through the civil suit, then the third leg of the stool is to make sure we put measures in place to avoid the recurrence of this kind of problem.”

The video game company relocated to Rhode Island from Massachusetts in 2010 in exchange for a $75 million state loan guarantee. It later went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers on the hook. The state’s economic development agency sued Schilling and others who aided the deal to try to recoup the money.

The House Oversight Committee is also investigating and asked House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to issued a subpoena to compel Schilling to testify.

The subpoena isn’t enforceable outside Rhode Island. The former Red Sox pitcher lives in Massachusetts.


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