Former Pennsylvania Treasurer Barbara Hafer pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in their statewide investigation into pay-to-play politics that has already ensnared multiple officials.

Hafer, 73, was charged in July 2016 with hiding from the FBI $675,000 in consulting fees she received from Chester County businessman Richard Ireland, who was himself charged for making “secret campaign contributions” to indicted ex-state Treasurer Rob McCord and promising to put McCord on his “payroll” in exchange for McCord's decision to invest millions in state money into businesses affiliated with Ireland, prosecutors alleged. Ireland was later acquitted.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III of the Middle District of Pennsylvania accepted Hafer's guilty plea Friday. Hafer originally pleaded not guilty to lying to the FBI, but switched when she entered into a plea agreement with the government on June 8.