Three former Ohio utility and regulatory officials face dozens of new charges in the House Bill 6 scandal.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office on Feb. 12 announced the latest developments in the long-running fallout over H.B. 6, which granted subsidies for the operation of two FirstEnergy Corp. nuclear power plants and locked in profits for the utility.

Indicted on charges ranging from theft to bribery to telecommunications fraud were Samuel Randazzo, former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; Charles Jones, former CEO of FirstEnergy; and Michael Dowling, FirstEnergy’s former senior vice president of external affairs.

The new state indictment brings the first criminal charges against Jones and Dowling, who were fired by the company in 2020 after allegations of wrongdoing surfaced. (See FirstEnergy Fires Jones over Bribe Probe.)

A federal indictment announced in December brought bribery, fraud and other charges against Randazzo, who resigned as PUCO chair in late 2020. (See Former Ohio PUC Chair Charged with Bribery.)

The indictment runs 50 pages. It alleges that from 2010 to 2021, the three men “were literally as thick as thieves. Together, they would steal money from FirstEnergy, write legislative provisions worth unearned millions of dollars to FirstEnergy, legally guarantee … FirstEnergy’s [continued] profitability and take over the state government in a way that allowed FirstEnergy to regulate itself.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said a multiagency task force formed under the framework of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission prepared the case against the trio.

“This indictment is about more than one piece of legislation,” Yost said in a news release Feb. 12. “It is about the hostile capture of a significant portion of Ohio’s state government by deception, betrayal and dishonesty.”

These are not the first charges brought in connection with the H.B. 6 scandal.

A federal jury convicted former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) of racketeering conspiracy in March 2023. He was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison but appealed his conviction. (See Former Ohio House Speaker Householder Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison.)

There have been numerous civil actions as well. Yost said his office has averted nearly $2 billion in charges to FirstEnergy customers over the period covered by H.B. 6.

FirstEnergy itself agreed to pay a $230 million federal fine for its role in H.B. 6. (See DOJ Orders $230 Million Fine for FirstEnergy.)

The Allegations

FirstEnergy was alleged to have spent $61 million in bribes, campaign contributions and advertising to advance Householder to the speakership. He then supported H.B. 6, which provided more than $1 billion in subsidies for the nuclear plants the company owned at the time.

The indictment paints a picture of a decadelong scheme that “all began with a well-lawyered theft in 2010.” The paperwork states and alleges that:

• • Randazzo was simultaneously a consultant for FirstEnergy; a representative of a group of large commercial electric users who thought they were paying too much for electricity; and the operator of two shell companies, Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio and IEU-Ohio Administration Co.
  • Randazzo subsequently skimmed $5.4 million of the $13.2 million he obtained for his commercial clients from FirstEnergy.
  • FirstEnergy paid out Randazzo’s consulting fees in full shortly before he was nominated to head the PUCO; Randazzo lied about the relationship in his testimony to the General Assembly and failed to disclose the millions of dollars he had received from the company he soon would regulate and would continue to work for as an unregistered lobbyist.
  • Randazzo wrote portions of H.B. 6 that subsidized the nuclear plants, which FirstEnergy said were losing money.
  • Also in H.B. 6, Randazzo scuttled a 2024 rate case that likely would have resulted in a PUCO order to lower FirstEnergy’s rates; this maintained FirstEnergy’s profits at the levels of 2018, a very good year for the company.
  • All the while, Jones and Dowling directed and funded Randazzo and other lobbyists. They profited personally as First Energy stock rose from $28.83 in May 2017 to $50.47 in January 2020.
  • Jones texted Randazzo a screen shot of the stock price in November 2019 with a two-word message: “Thank you!!”

The Charges

Randazzo was indicted on 22 felony counts: one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, grand theft and bribery; two counts of aggravated theft; three counts of telecommunications fraud; six counts of tampering with records; and eight counts of money laundering.

Jones was indicted on 10 felony counts: one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and bribery; two counts each of aggravated theft of $1.5 million or more and telecommunications fraud; and four counts of money laundering.

Dowling was indicted on 12 felony counts: one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and bribery; two counts each of aggravated theft of $1.5 million or more, telecommunications fraud and tampering with records; and four counts of money laundering.

Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio is included in 11 of the criminal charges; IEU-Ohio Administration is included in five.