bailout
Householder goes to prison, but special interest corruption continues as usual in Ohio politics
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is a federal prisoner. That should give all the others in state government with their hands in the cookie jar pause, right? A once all-powerful Statehouse boss faces 20 years behind bars for orchestrating the biggest public corruption scandal in Ohio’s history. That’s deterrence enough for Householder’s political colleagues […]
Analysis: Where are Ohio’s guardrails against corruption?
This is the first of three analysis pieces from former PUCO Commissioner Ashley C. Brown analyzing the failures and deficiencies in Ohio’s utility regulation and anti-corruption guardrails. Perhaps the most notable — but least commented on — aspect of the House Bill 6 bribery scandal is the almost complete absence of any meaningful state guardrails […]
FirstEnergy scandal whistleblower says he feels vindicated after public corruption trial testimony
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Tyler Fehrman, the Republican operative who is credited with exposing mass public corruption […]
Coal plant subsidies from pay-for-play legislation have cost Ohioans $173 million
Ohioans have paid $173 million to cover the losses of three Ohio utility companies’ investments in two coal-fired power plants since 2020, thanks in part to a recent law that’s now in the center of a criminal public corruption investigation. By year’s end, the tab since Jan. 1, 2020 on the Clifty Creek coal plant […]
FirstEnergy fired its CEO amid bribery scandal but let him keep millions, documents show
As its starring role in a political bribery scandal became clearer and two alleged conspirators pleaded guilty, FirstEnergy Corp. fired its CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones, who was later outed as an architect of the operation. New documents show, however, that FirstEnergy’s board of directors declined to invoke a provision in Jones’ contract that would have […]
Before bribery scandal, JobsOhio forgave a $12m loan to FirstEnergy to clean up a coal plant
JobsOhio gave FirstEnergy Corp., which later admitted to paying millions in bribes to a ranking politician and the state’s top utility regulator, a nearly $12 million loan in 2015 that was forgiven two years later. The Akron based company used the money to clean up a coal fired power plant in Belmont County that it […]
FirstEnergy deposition looms in shareholder lawsuit for bribery, misleading investors
It has been nine months since FirstEnergy Corp. admitted to federal prosecutors that it bribed Ohio’s top utility regulator and the speaker of the Ohio House. Investors in the electric utility may soon get the chance to ask a few follow-up questions about how the $64 million operation came together. Besides the criminal allegations against […]
Judge orders FirstEnergy to turn over records tied to bribery scandal
An administrative judge for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio once again ordered FirstEnergy Corp. to hand over thousands of documents to a watchdog state agency, partially rebuffing the company’s request for a four-month delay. The ruling Wednesday caps off a drawn-out fight over records the company has already given to federal regulators for an […]
FirstEnergy fights to slow-walk subpoena for records tied to bribery case
Despite public promises of transparency, FirstEnergy Corp. is fighting a legal battle to slow-walk its production of documents subpoenaed by a consumer watchdog agency related to the company’s self-professed bribery operation. FirstEnergy, which owns three electric utilities in Ohio, has already successfully narrowed the scope of the documents it was ordered to turn over related […]
FirstEnergy’s CEO and SVP ordered $64 million bribery scheme, shareholders say
FirstEnergy’s CEO and senior vice president “devised and orchestrated” a $64 million bribery scheme to pay a top legislative leader and utility regulator in exchange for official action, according to a sworn declaration Wednesday from shareholders’ lawyers who are suing the company. While CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones and senior vice president for external affairs Michael […]
Ohio judge withdraws from probes into nuclear bailout he helped write
A state judge who oversees utility cases withdrew himself Friday from four cases involving legislation now at the center of a criminal public corruption investigation. Greg Price, an attorney examiner with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and chief of the electric and energy section, stepped back from investigations into FirstEnergy Corp. He cited the […]
FirstEnergy collected $460 million from customers; auditor unsure if it was spent on bribes
There’s no clear evidence to show the $460 million FirstEnergy Corp. charged its customers went to its stated purpose of modernizing the electric grid, a state-commissioned audit found. After three years of FirstEnergy collecting hundreds of millions via the “Distribution Modernization Rider,” a 2019 Ohio Supreme Court ruling blocked the company from continuing to apply […]