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☆ Former Ohio House Speaker Hit With 10 Additional Felony Charges
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former speaker of the Ohio State House of Representatives, now serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, was indicted on 10 more state felony charges on Monday in connection with a sprawling bribery scheme that handed a $1.3 billion bailout to a major regional energy utility. The charges against the former speaker, Larry Householder, followed an inquiry by the Ohio Organized Crime Commission that also produced indictments last month of two former executives of the Akron-based utility, FirstEnergy Corporation. The two men — Chuck Jones, a former FirstEnergy chief executive officer, and Michael Dowling, a senior vice president — were charged with funneling $4.3 million in bribes to the former chairman of the Ohio Public Utility Commission, Sam Randazzo. They and Mr. Randazzo, who was also indicted, have pleaded not guilty to a total of 27 charges. The FirstEnergy case has been called the largest political scandal in Ohio history.

Persons: Larry, Chuck Jones, Michael Dowling, —, Sam Randazzo, Randazzo Organizations: Ohio State House of Representatives, Ohio, Commission, FirstEnergy Corporation Locations: Akron, Ohio

The long-awaited indictments marked the latest development in what has been labeled the largest corruption case in Ohio history. In July 2021, Yost asked a judge in Columbus to add Jones, Dowling and Randazzo to his office's lawsuit against FirstEnergy. It identified 84 phone contacts between Jones and Householder and 14 phone contacts between Dowling and Householder. FirstEnergy admitted to its role in the bribery scheme as part of a July 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. A statement of facts signed by then-FirstEnergy CEO and President Steven Strah, who retired in 2022, detailed the involvement of Jones, Dowling, Randazzo and others in the bribery scheme.

Persons: Chuck Jones, Michael Dowling, Dave Yost, Sam Randazzo, Larry, Matt Borges, Jones, Dowling, Susan Baker Ross, Randazzo, Baker, Columbus, FirstEnergy, Mike DeWine, Carole Rendon, ”, Matthew Meyer, Richard Blake, Borges, Juan Cespedes, Jeffrey Longstreth, Neil Clark, Householder’s, Bill, Yost, Steven Strah Organizations: FirstEnergy Corp, Republican, Public Utilities Commission, Summit, FBI, Republican Gov, GPS, Industrial Energy, Randazzo, Sustainability, of Ohio, FirstEnergy, U.S . Department of Justice Locations: COLUMBUS , Ohio, Ohio, Akron, Naples , Florida, FirstEnergy, U.S, Cincinnati, Columbus

☆ FirstEnergy Ex-C.E.O. and 2 Others Are Indicted in Bribery Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( J. Edward Moreno | More About J. Edward Moreno | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two former executives of FirstEnergy and a former public utility commissioner have been indicted in a multimillion-dollar public corruption scandal, Ohio’s attorney general, Dave Yost, said on Monday. Collectively, the three men are charged with 27 counts, including theft, bribery and fraud. The charges were filed on Friday but weren’t made public until Mr. Yost announced them on Monday. The indictments are the first against FirstEnergy executives in perhaps the biggest public corruption scandal in Ohio’s history, one that has already landed a former lawmaker in prison. State and federal officials have accused the company, an Ohio-based electric utility that serves six million customers, of paying state lawmakers and regulators millions of dollars in exchange for subsidies and other favorable treatment.

Persons: Dave Yost, Charles Jones, Michael Dowling, Samuel Randazzo, weren’t, Yost Organizations: Public Utilities Commission, FirstEnergy Locations: State, Ohio

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