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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A onetime chief of staff to former Gov. Ed Rendell agreed in a court document filed Friday to plead guilty to wire fraud for pocketing thousands of dollars from a fake company set up by the FBI to investigate public corruption in Pennsylvania. John H. Estey collected $20,000 from the fake company in 2011 to make campaign contributions to state lawmakers in a way that would hide the company's role in the donations, a plea deal filed in Harrisburg federal court said. State law bans campaign donations from corporations. "Estey identified a number of members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who Estey claimed would draft, introduce, control and support legislation beneficial to the business interests" of the fake company, referred to in the paperwork as Undercover Corp., or UCC, according to the criminal information document filed Friday. Estey "indicated that campaign contributions to those legislators would be necessary to gain access to, and the attention of, those legislators and to facilitate legislative action, or inaction, favorable to the UCC," the document said. It said Estey agreed to give $5,000 each to three unnamed lawmakers and one unidentified "leadership caucus," but only made $7,000 in donations, and converted $13,000 "to his own use." Estey first met with agents posing as UCC executives in 2009, and he represented the company from 2009 through 2011 as an owner of a Philadelphia-based lobbying firm, court papers said. Estey, 53, did not respond to a phone message left at his Ardmore home in suburban Philadelphia. His defense attorney, Ronald H. Levine, said a plea hearing has not been scheduled. Levine declined to discuss the case. "My only comment is that Mr. Estey is sorry for the mistakes he's made," Levine said. "He has resolved the matter with the government and he looks forward to moving on with his life." The U.S. attorney's office also declined to answer questions about the case, including whether Estey is cooperating with authorities and whether the investigation is still going on. It was not clear what led investigators to Estey or why it took five years for prosecutors to file charges. Estey was a powerful member of the Rendell administration while serving as the Democratic governor's chief of staff from 2003 to 2008. He also was a deputy chief of staff during Rendell's tenure as Philadelphia mayor. The donations were made while Estey was a lobbyist and consultant in 2011, several years after he left the Rendell administration. He has served as chairman of the Independence Visitor Center, a regional tourism organization; the Delaware River Port Authority; and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. He became an executive with The Hershey Trust Company in 2011. The plea agreement was signed a month ago by Estey and Levine and on Friday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Consiglio. It said Estey faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In an interview Friday, Rendell said he knew nothing of the matter, but said Estey is too smart to engage in such a scheme and too well-off to risk his career for $13,000, Rendell said. "It's not something he would take a risk for, it doesn't make sense," Rendell said. "I think we have to wait until more comes out." Online state records show that Estey made $7,500 in campaign contributions in 2011. Just $4,000 of that went to lawmakers and at least $1,000 of that was given three months before the date of the scheme identified in the court papers. In 2013, Estey submitted paperwork to create the Enterprise Fund political action committee, which later gave $125,000 to Rob McCord's gubernatorial campaign, according to state records. McCord's gubernatorial campaign reported the $125,000 Enterprise Fund donation on May 21, 2014, a day after he came in third in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination. McCord last year resigned as treasurer and pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges for using his office to try to strong-arm campaign contributions. He is awaiting sentencing. The Enterprise Fund reported that it received $100,000 from the president of a Pittsburgh-based nursing home services company, and an additional $25,000 that filtered through two other political action committees after being given by the CEO of a Chester-based charter school management firm. The federal government apparently has also shown an interest in the Enterprise Fund. In late 2014, federal investigators sought information from the Treasury Department about the Enterprise Fund, a person familiar with the request told The Associated Press last year.

One-time Rendell aide pleading guilty in campaign cash sting