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The Latest: Charges against 2 involve Pennsylvania treasury

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A second former Pennsylvania state treasurer is facing federal charges in a long-running, pay-to-play investigation that federal authorities said Thursday also involved a businessman who earned millions of dollars in fees from the state Treasury Department. Ex-two-term treasurer Barbara Hafer was charged with two counts of making false statements to federal agents and concealing payments of $500,000 from an unidentified businessman's firm, the U.S. attorney's office in Harrisburg said. The businessman shared in fees charged by private asset managers contracted by the Treasury Department while Hafer was in office. Prosecutors said the payments began within weeks of Hafer leaving office in 2005, when she was working as a consultant, and did not require her to achieve any particular result. The job of treasurer includes the authority to award lucrative contracts to asset managers to invest billions of taxpayer dollars. The businessman also ensured Hafer's consulting firm was paid another $175,000 in 2006 and 2007, prosecutors said. The businessman was not identified in the Hafer indictment. However, the U.S. attorney's office also announced Thursday it charged suburban Philadelphia businessman Richard W. Ireland with 79 counts, including money laundering related charges, in what it described as an effort to bribe former Treasurer Rob McCord with over $500,000 in secret campaign contributions between 2009 and 2014. A message left on Hafer's cellphone seeking comment was not immediately returned. Ireland's lawyer, Josh Locke, also did not immediately return a message seeking comment. A message left at Ireland's home in Coatesville was not returned. McCord resigned from the treasurer's office last year before pleading guilty to two counts of attempted extortion, admitting he tried to use his position to strong-arm state contractors into donating money to his failed gubernatorial campaign.

Ex-Pennsylvania treasurer Hafer charged in corruption case