Kane, state AG, likely to face charges
PHILADELPHIA — Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman has decided to bring criminal charges against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane for allegedly leaking confidential documents and then lying about it under oath, a newspaper has learned.
After nearly six months of review and fresh investigation, Ferman has endorsed a grand jury’s recommendation Kane be arrested for releasing the documents in a bid to embarrass a critic, according to people familiar with her decision.
Gerald Shargel, one of Kane’s lawyers, said Wednesday he could not confirm the attorney general would soon face charges. Shargel said Kane vigorously denies any wrongdoing and would not resign.
Kane, 49, the first Democrat and first woman to be elected Pennsylvania’s attorney general, could not be reached for comment. Ferman, a Republican who is running for a judgeship in the fall election, declined to comment.
In December, the grand jury recommended Kane be charged with obstruction, official oppression, perjury, false swearing and contempt of court. The panel, led by special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio, brought no charges, but forwarded its findings to Ferman.
The panel found Kane released documents to the Philadelphia Daily News last March about a 2009 investigation headed by a former top state prosecutor, Frank Fina.
The probe involved the financial dealings of J. Whyatt Mondesire, at the time the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. Mondesire was not charged. The grand jury said Kane leaked the information to suggest that Fina bungled the investigation.
Sources have said Kane blamed Fina for an article in The Inquirer last year revealing she secretly shut down a sting investigation that caught Philadelphia Democrats on tape accepting cash from an undercover informant. Fina, a top prosecutor under Kane’s Republican predecessors, ran the sting.
Leaking the Mondesire information, the jurors found, was Kane’s attempt to even the score.
The grand jury also concluded Kane lied when asked about the matter under oath.
Mondesire has said he may sue for defamation. A Kane spokesman later said it was unfortunate Mondesire was caught up in the matter.
Fina has denied he erred in his handling of the investigation.
