Former Ohio utility regulator, charged in a sweeping bribery scheme, has died

Columbus, Ohio — A former state utility regulator who was awaiting trial on charges that he took millions in bribes in connection with the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history died by suicide Tuesday, a spokesman for the Franklin County Coroner’s Office said .

Sam Randazzo, 74, former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, faced the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted of the dozens of criminal charges he faced in concurrent federal and state investigations. He had pleaded not guilty to all of them, most notably alleging that he accepted a $4.3 million bribe from Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. for its involvement in a scheme to secure a $1 billion nuclear bailout for two of its affiliated nuclear power stations.

A spokesman for the coroner’s office said Randazzo was found unconscious in a building in Columbus just before noon.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the Ohio attorney general’s office and the office of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who initially appointed Randazzo to the PUCO, all immediately declined comment.

Randazzo resigned in November 2020 after FBI agents searched his Columbus townhome and FirstEnergy revealed in security filings that it was $4.3 million in bribe payments for his future help with the commission, a month before DeWine nominated him as the top utility regulator of Ohio. He is the second person accused of suicide in the extensive investigation.

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Julie Carr Smyth contributed from Chicago. Samantha Hendrickson is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit community service program that places journalists in local newsrooms.