Marketer says it acted quickly to halt scare

The New York guerrilla marketing firm that spearheaded the advertising campaign that spawned the wave of bomb scares in Boston this week broke its silence yesterday, apologizing for any hardships and saying it tried to stop the chaos as soon as it found out about it.

The Globe reported yesterday that friends of a local artist charged in the scare said he sent them an e-mail in the midst of the chaos Wednesday, saying an executive at Interference Inc. had just warned him to stay quiet.

But yesterday the company's lawyer said executives "acted with all due deliberate speed" to notify authorities that the scare had been sparked by the marketing campaign's battery-powered, lighted boards, which were stuck on the side of bridges and buildings to advertise a show on Turner Broadcasting System's Cartoon Network.

"Immediately upon learning about this, Interference moved quickly, not just to inform Turner, but all relevant law enforcement agencies, both in Boston and outside of Boston, and in no way was any response to the situation delayed," said the lawyer, Michael K. Mullen, in a telephone interview yesterday.

Reached on his cellphone, Interference's chief executive, Sam Ewen, refused to answer questions, referring calls to Ken Sunshine Consultants, a New York public relations firm, which Interference hired yesterday. Sunshine has a long list of celebrity clients, including Bon Jovi, Ben Affleck, and Justin Timberlake.

Sunshine released a statement late yesterday, attributed to Ewen, expressing remorse for the scare.

"We would like to first and foremost apologize once again to the City of Boston and everyone who was inconvenienced by Wednesday's misunderstanding, especially the first responders who were called into action," the statement said. "We are a company of New Yorkers, and as a group that lives and works in a city constantly under alert, we understand what it feels like to feel threatened."

The statement said that Interference first received word that its marketing campaign had gone awry when Peter Berdovsky, the artist whom it hired to install the signs in Boston, called the firm's office in SoHo "to explain that the marketing campaign had become a story in the local news."

In the e-mail that friends said Berdovsky sent them, he said an Interference executive had asked him to "pretty please keep everything on the dl," slang for down low, or quiet.

But Ewen, in his statement, said his company immediately informed Turner Broadcasting and told officials in Boston and the nine other cities where they could find the signs. "At no time, and in no way, did we ever seek to hide our involvement in this situation or ask or direct others to do so," he said.

Behind the scenes yesterday, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office was leading negotiations with Turner Broadcasting and Interference on an agreement to repay local governments for the costs they incurred responding to what they believed might be a bomb plot. Boston has said it spent about $500,000 in police and other costs Wednesday; the tab for the MBTA, Somerville, and Cambridge is also expected to approach $500,000.

In a statement late yesterday afternoon, Coakley said representatives would meet Monday in hopes of "reaching finality in a resolution of this matter."

Coakley also said her office has begun talks with lawyers for Berdovsky, 27, and his friend, Sean Stevens, 28, who both pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count each of placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison on the hoax charge and six months for disorderly conduct.

Some outside lawyers have said it would be hard for Coakley's office to convict the men on the hoax charge because the crime requires them to show the men intended to cause panic.

Michael L. Rich, the lawyer for Stevens, said he "sincerely doubted" the negotiations would result in a plea agreement. Walter B. Prince, the lawyer representing Berdovsky, did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

Boston City Council President Maureen E. Feeney said she intended to file a resolution calling on the state's congressional delegation to urge the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the marketing practices of broadcast companies. Justin Holmes, Feeney's spokesman, said she was also considering filing legislation to regulate so-called guerrilla marketing in Boston.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.