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PA Attorney General's Office calls for Hershey School board resignations
May 3, 2016 | WGAL
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office is seeking the resignation of three board members at the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged children. -
Pa. AG wants 3 Hershey Trust board members to resign, and to lower pay
May 3, 2016 | WITF
By Ben Allen
The state Attorney General's office is asking the charity that controls the Milton Hershey School to remove three members from its board and reduce compensation for the remaining officers. -
Pa. Asks 3 Board Members to Resign From Hershey Trust
May 3, 2016 | Chronicle of Philanthropy
By Staff
Pennsylvania's attorney general wants three trustees to resign at the Hershey Trust, which operates the Milton Hershey School, according to a letter obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The letter also asks the $12 billion charity to reduce board compensation in accordance with a 2013 agreement it made with the attorney general’s office following an investigation into alleged excessive board pay and the purchase of a golf course with school money. -
Attorney general's office wants Hershey School board changes
May 3, 2016 | Associated Press
By Staff
The state attorney general's office is seeking the resignation of three board members at the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged children over concerns the board may be violating terms of a 2013 settlement. -
Attorney general wants to remove leaders of Hershey Trust
May 3, 2016 | Lebanon Daily News
By Staff
The $12 billion Hershey Trust is under fire from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, which is the seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members at the Hershey School. -
Leaders of $12 billion Hershey Trust in Pa. Attorney General's crosshairs
May 2, 2016 | PennLive
By Christian Alexanderson
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members of the Milton Hershey School Trust, according to a letter obtained by The Inquirer. -
AG wants to remove leaders of Hershey Trust boards
May 2, 2016 | Philadelphia Inquirer
By Bob Fernandez
In a sign of the continuing chaos at the top of the $12 billion Hershey charity, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members at the Hershey School for poor kids, according to an Attorney General letter obtained by The Inquirer.
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PA Attorney General's Office calls for Hershey School board resignations
May 3, 2016 | WGAL
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office is seeking the resignation of three board members at the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged children.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the resignations would amount to an overhaul of the 10-member board that runs one of the nation's richest charities.
According to a letter obtained by the newspaper, the attorney general's office is asking the Hershey Trust to reduce board compensation and wants members to pay for a conflict-of-interest investigation.
A spokesman for the office says the letter pertains to a 2013 settlement agreement over an investigation into the costly purchase of a golf course to serve as buffer zone for the private boarding school.
The Hershey School is the sole beneficiary of the trust's $12 billion in assets. The charity owns HersheyPark and a controlling interest in the Hershey chocolate-manufacturing company.
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Pa. AG wants 3 Hershey Trust board members to resign, and to lower pay
May 3, 2016 | WITF
By Ben Allen
The state Attorney General's office is asking the charity that controls the Milton Hershey School to remove three members from its board and reduce compensation for the remaining officers.
The letter, sent in February by a chief deputy Attorney General, says the Hershey Trust has violated conditions of a 2013 agreement with the office.
It says some board members have been paid too much money, and compensation should be reset using an independent consultant.
And it also calls for three board members to resign - since they've been serving for more than a decade.
WITF obtained a copy of the letter.
Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General's Letter to Hershey Trust lawyer
The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported its existence.
Charitable trusts in Pennsylvania are overseen by the state Attorney General's Office.
The Hershey Trust has $12 billion in assets, and is charged with operating the Milton Hershey School for low-income children.
It is the majority shareholder in the Hershey Company and owner of the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company.
A Trust spokesman has said it's fully cooperating with the state Attorney General's office and hopes to resolve the concerns.
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Pa. Asks 3 Board Members to Resign From Hershey Trust
May 3, 2016 | Chronicle of Philanthropy
By Staff
Pennsylvania's attorney general wants three trustees to resign at the Hershey Trust, which operates the Milton Hershey School, according to a letter obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The letter also asks the $12 billion charity to reduce board compensation in accordance with a 2013 agreement it made with the attorney general’s office following an investigation into alleged excessive board pay and the purchase of a golf course with school money.
The letter calls on board members that have been serving for more than 10 years to be removed by the end of July. Although the letter does not name the trustees, those who have served longer than 10 years are Chairwoman Velma Redmond; Joseph Senser, vice chairman; and former chair Robert Cavanaugh.
The trust was established by candy magnate Milton Hershey to manage a private school serving poor students. It has a controlling interest in the Hershey Co. and owns the HersheyPark theme park. The organization has been in upheaval for years amid state investigations of its financial moves and faces further fallout from a federal criminal case against John Estey, a former top trust official who was charged Friday with pocketing $13,000 ostensibly intended to be used to lobby Pennsylvania lawmakers. The trust fired Mr. Estey, although the charges do not involve Hershey.
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Attorney general's office wants Hershey School board changes
May 3, 2016 | Associated Press
By Staff
The state attorney general's office is seeking the resignation of three board members at the Milton Hershey School for disadvantaged children over concerns the board may be violating terms of a 2013 settlement.
The resignations would amount to an overhaul of the 10-member board that runs one of the nation's richest charities, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.
According to a Feb. 8 letter obtained by the newspaper, the attorney general's office asked the Hershey Trust to reduce board compensation and wants members to pay for a conflict-of-interest investigation.
On Friday, John Estey, a top official at the Hershey Trust Co., which manages the charity's finances, agreed 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.
The Hershey Trust board fired Estey. His charges were unrelated to the charity.
Chuck Ardo, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the letter pertains to a 2013 settlement agreement over an investigation into the costly purchase of a golf course to serve as a buffer zone for the private boarding school.
The trust paid an inflated price of $12 million for the money-losing Wren Dale Golf Club in 2006. Several dozen local investors, including The Hershey's Co.'s then-CEO, Richard Lenny, profited from the sale.
After an inquiry, the Hershey charity agreed to a laundry list of changes, including limiting compensation to a base pay of $30,000 a year.
The letter says the attorney general's office seeks a "reduction in board compensation to the parameters set forth in the 2013 agreement" and the "reimbursement of all excess compensation."
The most recent pay has not been disclosed in tax filings with the IRS.
The attorney general's office also wants board members who have served more than 10 years to resign by July 31. The office did not identify the members, but the charity's website lists three who have served more than 10 years: Velma Redmond, Joseph Senser and Robert Cavanaugh.
Hershey Trust spokesman Kent Jarrell said the group's boards "have a long history of voluntarily and constructively working with" the attorney general and "are fully cooperating."
The Hershey School is the sole beneficiary of the trust's $12 billion in assets. The charity owns HersheyPark and a controlling interest in the Hershey chocolate-manufacturing company.
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Attorney general wants to remove leaders of Hershey Trust
May 3, 2016 | Lebanon Daily News
By Staff
The $12 billion Hershey Trust is under fire from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, which is the seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members at the Hershey School.
The school, which enrolls 2,000 impoverished students, is the sole beneficiary of the trust's assets, according to Philly.com. The trust also owns Hersheypark and the Hershey Co.
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Leaders of $12 billion Hershey Trust in Pa. Attorney General's crosshairs
May 2, 2016 | PennLive
By Christian Alexanderson
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members of the Milton Hershey School Trust, according to a letter obtained by The Inquirer.
The trust -- which was established by chocolate magnate Milton Hershey -- has been in an upheaval over the past couple years amid allegations that the charity has misused funds. The attorney general's office -- which has previously investigated the trust -- still has concerns about how the trust is being managed.
The Hershey Trust operates a $12 billion charity that owns Hershey Park and has a controlling interest in the chocolate company.
In a complex arrangement, the trust company is managed by a board of trustees, who also serve as the directors for the Milton Hershey School in Derry Township, a private boarding school for children from low-income families.
Lobbyist and lawyer John Estey kept $13,000 of the $20,000 the FBI gave him to influence state legislators, investigators contend.
A letter sent by Mark Pacella, the chief deputy attorney general who oversees charitable organizations, pointed to several issues the state agency still has regarding the Hershey Trust.
Philly.com reported that Pacella's letter asked the Hershey Trust directors to reduce board compensation and requested that members personally bear the cost related to an internal conflict-of-interest investigation.
Pacella also said in the letter that the attorney general is seeking the resignation of board members who have served more than 10 years by July 31.
According to the charity's website, the three board members who have served for more than 10 years are Velma Redmond, Joseph Senser and Robert Cavanaugh.
The request for resignations comes after three board members resigned in the past year. Board member John Estey -- a former aide to Gov. Ed Rendell -- was fired recently after he was charged with scamming the FBI out of $13,000 in bribe money.
While investigators found no evidence Hershey trustees didn't act with the school's best interests, there's still a host of reforms for the school and the trust company's board.
Board spokesman Kent Jarrell said the Hershey Trust Company and the Milton Hershey School boards have history of "voluntarily and constructively working" attorney general's office.
They are fully cooperating with the attorney general's charitable trusts and organizations section's recent inquiries.
"We expect to appropriately resolve outstanding concerns the Office has concerning the interpretation of the 1909 deed of Milton S. Hershey, where he outlined his wishes to provide a funding mechanism to provide the Milton Hershey School with sustainable financial resources in perpetuity," Jarrell said.
Issues for the trust began with the 2006 purchase of the Wren Dale Golf Course, which later became Hershey Links, by the trust.
There were allegations that the trust bought the golf course at an inflated value to bail out one of their own, that it sunk $70 million into the course for their own benefit, that compensation for trustees has risen well above their service, and that trustees' family members benefited through business dealing with the school.
All of which culminated with an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.
In 2014, after two years of looking into the matter, the Attorney General's office released its findings – no harm, no foul, but also a slate of reforms on how the trust is governed.
The changes included a pay cut for board members, a limit on how many trustees can sit on the boards of both the Hershey Co. and Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, new processes for how the trust and school buy or sell land and a process for how trustees deal with conflicts of interest.
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AG wants to remove leaders of Hershey Trust boards
May 2, 2016 | Philadelphia Inquirer
By Bob Fernandez
In a sign of the continuing chaos at the top of the $12 billion Hershey charity, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General is seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members at the Hershey School for poor kids, according to an Attorney General letter obtained by The Inquirer.
The resignations would amount to an overhaul of the 10-member board that runs one of the nation's richest charities.
The letter asks the Hershey Trust directors to reduce board compensation which it said exceeds its own rules, and asks members to personally bear the cost related to an internal conflict-of-interest investigation.
The state agency also expressed concerns about "apparent violations" of a reform agreement reached between the attorney general and the Hershey charity in 2013 over the purchase of a luxury golf course with school funds.
Spokesmen for the attorney general and the Hershey Trust confirmed the authenticity of the Feb. 8 letter, which reveals turmoil and internal divisions at the charity's highest level.
The Hershey School, the sole beneficiary of the $12 billion in assets, enrolls 2,000 impoverished students, mostly from Pennsylvania. The charity owns HersheyPark as well as a controlling interest in the Hershey chocolate-manufacturing company.
Democratic insider John Estey, a top official at the Hershey Trust Co. which manages the charity's finances, was charged on Friday by federal prosecutors for pocketing $13,000 that was to be used for lobbying state lawmakers.
The Hershey Trust Co. board fired Estey on Friday evening after learning of the charge, which is unrelated to the charity.
Hershey Trust spokesman Kent Jarrell said in a statement that the group's boards - one to manage the finances and one to administer the school - "have a long history of voluntarily and constructively working with" with the attorney general and "are fully cooperating." He added that the Hershey charity expects to "appropriately resolve outstanding concerns."
Chuck Ardo, the spokesman for the attorney general, said on Monday that "we have not heard a satisfactory response from" the Hershey Trust.
Ardo described the letter as "a continuation of our original investigation and terms under which we agreed to settle" a two-year probe into soaring board compensation and the $12-million purchase of the luxury Wren Dale golf course.
Former Attorney General Tom Corbett launched the investigation into Wren Dale, which the charity later closed as a money-loser, after its highly irregular purchase was disclosed in The Inquirer and as Corbett ran for governor.
The Hershey charity agreed to a laundry list of reforms. But Mark Pacella, the chief deputy attorney general who oversees charitable organizations, writes that his agency has "serious concerns regarding the apparent violations of the 2013 Agreement."
Before the 2013 agreement, there was no limit on board compensation. The 2013 agreement limited compensation to a base pay of $30,000 a year but also includes more pay for attending meetings and heading committees.
Pacella seeks a "reduction in board compensation to the parameters set forth in the 2013 agreement" and the "reimbursement of all excess compensation." The most recent pay has not been disclosed in tax filings with the IRS.
Pacella also notes the Hershey board's apparent "failure to exercise its best efforts in a timely manner to secure new board members" with experience in early childhood education and at-risk children.
Pacella asked about the resignations of board members John Fry, the president of Drexel University, earlier this year and Hershey alumnus Richard Zilmer in 2015.
Fry and Zilmer were considered newer board members and not connected to the purchase of the luxury golf course and financial irregularities of the last decade.
Hershey spokesman Jarrell confirmed on Monday that a third board member, Stephanie Bell-Rose resigned after serving only three months in Hershey, Jan. 1 to March 28.
Bell-Rose is a senior managing director of TIAA-CREF Financial Services, which manages teacher retirement funds, and a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Bell-Rose told the charity that the time commitment to Hershey was "much more than she had anticipated and would interfere with her job reponsibilities," according to a Hershey statement.
Pacella said that the attorney general is seeking the resignation of board members who have served more than 10 years by July 31.
The attorney general did not name the members. But the charity's Web site lists those who have served more than 10 years as Velma Redmond, the current chairwoman who joined in 2003, and Joseph Senser, the vice chairman who joined in 2001.
The third board member is Robert Cavanaugh, a former chairman who joined in 2001. The Hershey boards investigated the summer employment of Cavanaugh's son with "one of the trust's investment management firms," the Pacella letter says. The attorney general is seeking to have the directors bear the cost of that inquiry.
In its latest filing with the IRS for the year ending July 31, 2014, the Hershey charity disclosed that Redmond earned $97,500 in directors' compensation, Senser earned $204,500 and Cavanaugh earned $332,500. The money could have come from multiple Hershey-related boards and may not be subject to the 2013 agreement.
Ric Fouad, a Hershey School and long-term activist for reforms at the school, said on Monday that he was "encouraged by this sign that the Attorney General has awakened to the gravity of Hershey's problems." But he said what was needed was a "complete and immediate takeover of this charity's board."
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