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The man, Mark Harrington, was accused of threatening to
disrupt filming of "Top Chef" in a Boston suburb in June 2014,
because the production company was using non-union workers.
Harrington entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Boston
after reaching a deal with prosecutors under which he would
serve two years' probation, rather than the maximum sentence of
20 years he could have faced if convicted at trial.
He said in court that he changed his plea reluctantly, and
believed that his actions were allowed under U.S. labor laws,
according to local media accounts.
A member of Boston Mayor Martin Walsh's administration has also
been tied to the case. Kenneth Brissette, who heads the city's
tourism office, was charged earlier this year with extortion
after prosecutors said he tried to withhold city permits for a
music festival using non-union workers.
Prosecutors in court papers also tied Brissette, who has pleaded
not guilty, to the Top Chef case.
Walsh, a Democrat, is a former construction worker who led the
city's Building and Construction Trades Council, a union group,
for two years before being elected mayor in 2013. He has said
repeatedly that he expects all members of his administration to
obey the law.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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