The Hershey school paid $12 million for a failing golf course, and the attorney general twice demanded reforms of its board

In 2006 the Milton Hershey School, funded by the trust that controls The Hershey Company, bought the money-losing Wren Dale Golf Club for $12 million, calling it "buffer land" for student safety, and added a $5 million clubhouse. In October 2010 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the price was inflated and the purchase helped the course's investors. In February 2011 Robert Reese, grandson of the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a former trust president, sued, alleging trust money was misused and that board members were among the course's owners^†. He withdrew the suit in April 2011, citing his health. In 2013 Attorney General Kathleen Kane closed a two-year investigation with an agreement that found no wrongdoing but required reforms. In May 2016 the attorney general's office wrote to the trust seeking the resignation of three long-standing board members. The letter said board pay exceeded the trust's own rules, asked members to pay personally for an internal conflict-of-interest inquiry, and cited "apparent violations" of the 2013 agreement. Board member John Estey, a former aide to Governor Ed Rendell, had been cooperating with the FBI. The charity was valued at $12 billion in 2016.