Former utility executives are indicted in an Ohio bribery scheme
A former CEO and one of his top executives at an Ohio energy company involved in a $60 million bribery scheme have been charged with racketeering, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
The former executives of FirstEnergy Corp. – ex-CEO Chuck Jones and senior vice president Michael Dowling – were accused of participating in a scheme to bribe state officials and secure a $1 billion bailout for the company’s nuclear power plants.
The pair, who already faced related state-level charges, were charged with federal racketeering conspiracy charges, according to the indictment issued earlier this week and released Friday.
Prosecutors said the two men, through a series of bribery, money laundering and obstruction, tried to boost the company’s stock price and enrich themselves.
Both denied wrongdoing after being indicted on state charges last year. The Associated Press left email messages with their attorneys on Friday.
The bribery scheme, which resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for a former speaker of the Ohio House, focused on FirstEnergy’s efforts to convince state lawmakers to approve a bailout for two of its affiliated nuclear power plants and defend the bill against an attempted withdrawal.
Last fall, Akron-based FirstEnergy was ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pay a $100 million civil penalty for misleading investors about its role in the scandal. The company also struck a deal with prosecutors to pay $20 million to avoid criminal charges.
The utility admitted its role in the scheme as part of a July 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice. The company subsequently agreed to pay $230 million in fines and implement reforms to avoid criminal prosecution on a federal conspiracy charge.
Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced in June 2023 20 years for his role in orchestrating the plan.
Federal prosecutors say those involved used money secretly funded by FirstEnergy to get Householder’s chosen candidates elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and help him win the speakership. The money was used to secure passage of the tainted energy law and to wage a campaign that authorities said was to prevent a repeal referendum from reaching the ballot.