Attorney general, Hershey Trust reach tentative deal

The troubled Hershey Trust for impoverished children and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office have reached a deal to settle the latest investigation into the giant charity that will include board member resignations, according to a source with direct knowledge of the agreement.

The trust and the Attorney General's Office confirmed that a deal had been struck late Friday but declined to disclose details. The number of resignations on the nine-member board could not be immediately determined.

The Attorney General's Office requested in February that three members leave the fractious board because they had served more than 10 years. An additional two members will hit the 10-year mark in 2017.

"We have reached an agreement in principle and are working on the final details in productive discussions," trust spokesman Kent Jarrell said late Friday.

First Deputy Attorney General Bruce L. Castor Jr. said that he met on Thursday afternoon with trust officials and a trust's lawyer, and "agreed on behalf of the attorney general in principal to a series of changes that the trust would implement. When that is reduced to writing, and if it is signed by us and them, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will make the terms public."

The Attorney General's Office opened the investigation into the scandal-plagued $12.3 billion charity earlier this year over its compliance with a 2013 settlement agreement.

Leaks from the trust have revealed a board that hired lawyers and spent millions of dollars investigating itself.

The Attorney General's Office also has raised concerns that the trust board members violated compensation curbs that were part of the 2013 agreement with the attorney general.

In the midst of this turmoil, Mondelez International Inc. has made an offer to buy chocolate giant Hershey Co. for $23 billion. The trust controls the Hershey company through super-voting shares. The Hershey company board rejected the Mondelez offer, and many on Wall Street expect Mondelez to make a higher one.

The multibillion-dollar trust finances and oversees the 2,000-student Milton Hershey School for impoverished children.

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