Ex-Boston FBI Chief To Plead Guilty In Ethics Case

The former head of the Boston FBI office has agreed to plead guilty to an ethics charge in a deal that includes a recommendation from prosecutors that he serve no prison time and pay a $15,000 fine.

Kenneth Kaiser was charged this month with violating a federal ethics law by having professional contact with former FBI colleagues within a year of leaving government service. A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for Oct 3.

The terms of the deal were described in a plea agreement filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

Kaiser headed the Boston office from 2003 until 2006, when he left to become an assistant director at FBI headquarters in Washington. Prosecutors allege that within a year of retiring from the FBI in 2009 and going to work for a private company, Kaiser had professional contact with FBI agents investigating the company.

The ethics law prohibits senior executive branch personnel from making professional contacts with the agency they were employed by for one year after leaving government service.

Kaiser, 57, of Hopkinton, worked for the FBI for 27 years. The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor charge is one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.