A federal jury in Cincinnati on Thursday found former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) guilty of racketeering conspiracy in connection with nearly $61 million FirstEnergy paid a dark money group controlled by him to win passage of legislation authorizing a $1.1 billion public subsidy for the utility’s two uncompetitive nuclear power plants in northern Ohio.
Also found guilty as a co-conspirator was former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges for his role in lobbying lawmakers to approve H.B 6 in 2019 and to help defeat a referendum petition overturning the legislation in 2020.
Two other co-conspirators pled guilty to lesser charges and testified against Householder and Borges. A fifth defendant and top Ohio lobbyist died by suicide in 2021.
The jury deliberated about nine hours following the seven-week trial that included hundreds of documents.
FirstEnergy in July 2021 agreed to pay a $230 million fine in a deferred prosecution agreement that included its willingness to assist federal prosecutors. (See DOJ Orders $230 Million Fine for FirstEnergy.) The company fired its CEO and up to half-dozen others following internal investigations in the last two years.
In March 2021, Ohio lawmakers reversed the nuclear bailout subsidy with passage of a bill that continued a public bailout of two aging coal-fired power plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (See Ohio Lawmakers Repeal Nuclear Subsidy for Energy Harbor.)
After the FBI arrested Householder and his four associates in July 2020 pre-dawn raids, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio called the months-long investigation the largest public corruption case in the state’s history.
Following the verdict Thursday, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said in a prepared statement Householder “illegally sold the state house, and thus he ultimately betrayed the great people of Ohio he was elected to serve. Matt Borges was a willing co-conspirator, who paid bribe money for insider information to assist Householder.”
The Justice Department said that, beginning in March 2017, Householder began receiving quarterly $250,000 payments into the bank account of Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) he controlled, from FirstEnergy and its subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions, operator of the power plants at the time.
Both defendants plan to appeal the conviction and remain free on bond. A sentencing hearing has not been set.
