FRANKFORT — The former head of a failed medical malpractice insurer has admitted in a plea agreement to laundering thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Brereton Jones' 1991 campaign for governor.

        They were part of at least $500,000 in illegal campaign contributions that Larry E. Rogers, former president and chief executive officer of PIE Mutual Insurance Co., admitted he orchestrated.

        Mr. Rogers' signed plea agreement, filed Thursday in federal court in Cleveland, involved three felony charges brought by the U.S. attorney's office there.

        Mr. Rogers, 63, a native of Henderson, was a major political contributor as well as a financial backer of University of Kentucky athletics during the 1990s.

        For about 10 years until December 1997, he was president and chief executive officer of PIE Mutual Insurance Co., founded in 1975 and, at the time of its failure, the largest medical malpractice insurer in Ohio.

        When the Ohio Department of Insurance took management and financial control on Dec. 15, 1997, Mr. Rogers and PIE executives were fired.

        Mr. Rogers could not be reached for comment.

        Under the plea agreement, Mr. Rogers faces a prison term of 37 to 46 months, said Jim Moroney, an assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland. Mr. Rogers admitted to conspiring to violate federal and state campaign finance laws; misappropriating insurance funds, and willfully filing a false income tax return.

        The conspiracy charge said Mr. Rogers diverted corporate money to political contributions given in the names of employees, family members and others.

        Mr. Rogers made “over $500,000 in political contributions through at least 62 nominee or conduit donors,” according to the conspiracy charge.

        One instance involved at least $50,000 in contributions made in September 1990 to “a candidate for governor of the state of Kentucky.” That was Mr. Jones, a Democrat who was elected governor in 1991.

        Mr. Jones is an all-but-announced candidate for governor in 2003. He was out of state on Friday and couldn't be reached, a secretary at his office said.

        One instance itemized in the charge involved $22,500 in contributions to the Kentucky State Democratic Committee in March 1997.

Campaign spending shows restraint
Case tests banking ethics
Cleves' 5 p.m. curfew ticks off teen-agers
Hustler store called big success
Killing of fetus charged
School, company trade charges over location
City manager headhunter has 23 names
City police officer hurt when cruiser, van crash
Drill completes work under river
Neighborhoods strive to survive
Tristate A.M. Report
UC scholar: bin Laden master of propaganda
MCNUTT: Warren County
THOMPSON: Faith Matters
Greenspace report helps plan
More to campaigns than cash
Robbers get little for effort
Teacher, 3 students caught in drug net
Problems with child-support system said to be eliminated
Charity may file theft charges
Driver's license procedure easy for foreigners to bypass
Ex-Miss America connects to vets
Kentucky News Briefs
Lawyer says city misused repair cash
Louisville's Ali Center gets a boost
Man admits role in Jones campaign scandal
Police charge missing teen in slaying
Yucatan told to keep patrons in line