A federal bankruptcy judge in Ohio on Tuesday approved of legal fees of more than $65 million and expenses totaling $2.7 million in the FirstEnergy Solutions bankruptcy case. The decision officially closes the case.

FES, a wholly owned generation subsidiary of FirstEnergy, emerged from bankruptcy as Energy Harbor in February 2020 after 23 months of litigation. It was represented by the international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, headquartered in D.C.

Akin Gump’s fees included about $2.8 million for lobbying work four members of the firm’s Public Law and Policy Group did to persuade Ohio lawmakers to approve H.B. 6 in June 2019. The legislation created a $1.1 billion public bailout of two FES nuclear reactors in northern Ohio. The firm’s lobbyists also worked closely with FES and FirstEnergy to defeat a referendum petition drive following the bill’s passage.

The court delayed approval of Akin Gump’s final fees and expenses invoice after learning of the existence of the lobbyists on the ground in Ohio and of the decision by FES to contribute $500,000 to Generation Now, a dark money group at the heart of the lobbying effort.

The court also took notice of the indictment of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) and four associates on federal racketeering charges in July 2020, and the dismissal of FirstEnergy’s former chief executive and four others in October 2020 over the company’s contribution of $61 million in dark money to bankroll Householder’s multiyear campaign engineering passage of H.B. 6.

Judge Alan Koschik had delayed his decision for more than a year in the hope that federal prosecutors would let the court know, either in a docket filing or an appearance in court, whether his decision to authorize the final payments, officially closing the bankruptcy proceeding, would conflict with their investigation. He said Tuesday that the Justice Department, nor state authorities, never responded.

Two of the four Householder associates charged with racketeering have pleaded guilty but have not been sentenced. One killed himself in March, while a fourth along with Householder have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. FirstEnergy has paid a $230 million fine in a deferred prosecution agreement.

Koschik last year ordered the four Akin Gump lobbyists to file affidavits explaining their work, but the firm repeatedly asked for delays until a hearing last month to avoid having to file the affidavits in the public docket and arrange for a court appearance of the four because of the ongoing federal investigation.

“The question before the court is what to do about the request for final approval of Akin Gump’s fees generally, and in particular, its fees for the Government Affairs [division] … [for] the approximate amount of $2.8 million, in light of the federal criminal investigation and indictments concerning alleged corruption and racketeering involving Ohio politicians and political operatives in connection with the passage of Ohio House Bill 6,” Koschik said Tuesday before announcing his ruling.

“This court observes that despite holding at least four substantive hearing on the application, and two more where the court granted motions to adjourn, very few substantive objections have been filed or raised in court. The court has done all it can to provide breathing space for persons to oppose or question some portion of the Akin Gump fees in light of the criminal investigations.”