PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation announced Wednesday it has agreed to a $16-million proposed settlement in the state’s 38 Studios lawsuit with Hilltop Securities Inc., formerly First Southwest Company.

The settlement with Hilltop, which is the final defendant in the case, was filed in Rhode Island Superior Court Wednesday and is contingent upon court approval, the Commerce Corporation announced.

With court approval of the settlement, Governor Gina Raimondo will seek the release of documents related to a grand jury's criminal investigation into the case. No criminal charges were brought from the investigation.

“I am pleased with the proposed settlement of $16 million from First Southwest. But we cannot rest on monetary recovery alone," Raimondo said in a statement. "If the Court approves this settlement, the civil case will end and I will immediately petition the Court for the release of all materials associated with the grand jury investigation of 38 Studios. Rhode Islanders deserve to have access to all of the information that is known. Complete transparency is the best way to ensure that such a disastrous deal never happens again.”

The settlement agreement was filed with the court at 10 a.m., according to Craig Berke, spokesman for the courts.

If the court approves the settlement, the Commerce Corporation expects to recoup a net amount of $13.2 million, after legal bills are paid, according to Commerce spokesman Matthew Sheaff. That amount would help pay down the state's 38 Studios debt.

With the settlement, the 38 Studios debacle would end up costing Rhode Island taxpayers about $38 million. (The full tally would be an estimated $38,581,443.51, a Journal analysis shows.)

When Rhode Island state leaders bet on retired Red Sox ace Curt Schilling in 2010, the then-Economic Development Corporation issued $75 million in bonds to raise cash to help the fledgling, pre-revenue video-game company move to Rhode Island.

38 Studios was expected to pay off the principal and interest on those bonds through 2020, which totaled $112,587,089. But when the company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2012, state taxpayers were left to pay the bills.

The $38 million final cost could change for a variety of reasons, including if the state recovers any additional money from the company’s separate bankruptcy and receivership proceedings or if any party were to contest the latest settlement.

Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein is scheduled to consider the proposed Hilltop Securities settlement Feb. 9.

The joint petition for the settlement to be approved describes the negotiations that led to it as "lengthy, hard-fought, arms-length" talks between the parties.

"It makes little economic sense for the parties to proceed to trial, where the outcome is always uncertain, rather than proceed with the proposed settlement in this highly unusual and contested," the lawyers wrote.

Roger Williams School of Law Professor Niki Kuckes commented in September, after a settlement was reached with Schilling and other 38 Studios corporate officers, that then First Southwest would be under "a lot" of pressure to settle.

Kuckes observed then that the company could be on the hook for the remaining $51.8 million if it lost at trial.

Hilltop Securities said in a statement through spokeswoman Patti Doyle, "We have reached a settlement with the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation that once approved by the court will resolve the 38 Studios matter. This resolution contains no admission of liability or wrongdoing and it allows our firm to put this matter behind us and move forward on the important work we undertake for municipal clients across the country."

-- This report was updated several times, most recently at 12:30 p.m.

