Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo, who faced multiple criminal counts for taking millions of dollars in bribes from FirstEnergy, died by suicide April 9, according to multiple news reports.
The Franklin County, Ohio, coroner’s office said Randazzo, 74, was found dead just before noon Central Time in a Columbus warehouse he owned, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Local NBC news affiliate WCMH said the coroner confirmed the death was by suicide. WCMH said the building where the former PUCO chair was found was owned by Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio, a Randazzo-owned consulting firm cited as a shell company in court documents in state charges filed against him.
Randazzo became caught up in one of Ohio’s biggest political scandals in history after the FBI raided his home in November 2020, prompting his resignation from the commission shortly after. In July of that year, FirstEnergy had entered a deferred prosecution agreement in which it admitted to bribing Randazzo and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. Householder is serving 20 years in federal prison.
Randazzo avoided prosecution for years but was indicted on federal bribery charges in November. (See Former Ohio PUC Chair Charged with Bribery.)
According to that indictment, before assuming the top role at PUCO in 2019, Randazzo solicited $4.3 million in bribes from former FirstEnergy CEO Charles Jones and Michael Dowling, the company’s former senior vice president of external affairs, in exchange for helping the company win a $1 billion bailout for its financially distressed nuclear plants.
Randazzo allegedly arranged the payment after meeting with the two executives at his home in December 2018. The executives then lobbied for his appointment to the commission. The indictment included messages between the executives and Randazzo.
The federal indictment also alleged Randazzo embezzled at least $1 million from an industry group representing large industrial energy users in Ohio through Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio going as far back as 2010.
Randazzo was indicted a second time in February by the state of Ohio, along with Jones and Rowling. The indictment covered 27 charges, including bribery, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and money laundering, WCMH reported.
If convicted, Randazzo faced a potential 20-year prison sentence.
