AKRON, Ohio — The energy company at the center of a $60 million bribery scandal in Ohio will pay $20 million and avoid prosecution as part of an agreement with prosecutors to resolve its role in the scandal.
Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. announced the deal Tuesday, a day after filing the agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which calls for the company to cooperate with ongoing investigations by the state attorney general and Summit County district attorney’s office and resolves FirstEnergy’s involvement in a civil lawsuit the attorney general filed in 2020.
FirstEnergy will pay $19.5 million to the Attorney General’s Office within five business days and pay $500,000 to an independent consultant to review and certify unspecified “changes and remediation efforts” by the company.
Two fired FirstEnergy Corp. executives were charged in April as part of a lengthy investigation into the plot that has already resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for a former speaker of the state House of Representatives.
Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and former FirstEnergy Services Corp. senior vice president Michael Dowling were charged in connection with their alleged roles in the massive corruption case. Both men have denied any wrongdoing. Another man charged along with them, former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo, had pleaded not guilty in federal and state courts before dying by suicide in April at age 74.
Jones and Dowling were fired in October 2020 for violating company policies and code of conduct.
Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2023 for his role in orchestrating the plot, and lobbyist Matt Borges, former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Federal prosecutors have said those involved in the scheme used the $60 million from the FirstEnergy intelligence agency to elect Republican candidates chosen by Householder to the House in 2018 and to help him get elected House speaker in January 2019. The money was then used to secure passage of the rigged energy bill, House Bill 6, and to wage a $38 million dirty tricks campaign to prevent a referendum on repealing the law, according to authorities.
FirstEnergy admitted its role in the bribery scheme as part of a July 2021 dismissal agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company agreed to pay a $230 million fine and implement a long list of reforms within three years to avoid federal conspiracy prosecution.
