Speaker Larry Householder
Attorneys dig up thousands of new documents in case against FirstEnergy
Lawyers for pension and investment funds suing Akron-based FirstEnergy report that as they press the company for documents relating to alleged bribery, the company is finding thousands more. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department isn’t commenting on rumors that further charges might be filed next month in the biggest bribery and money-laundering scandal in Ohio history. […]
Analysis: Paying to warm the planet. Corrupt utility law forces Ohioans to make climate worse
It seems crazy that people would be forced to pay to make themselves and their planet sicker. But thanks to a crooked utility law that the Ohio General Assembly refuses to repeal, that’s just what’s happening in the Buckeye State. The notion that rising greenhouse gasses could warm the planet goes back at least to […]
Multiple signs that federal corruption investigation might be heating up — again
After two former Republican officials in June were sentenced for their roles in a massive racketeering conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said the investigation was continuing. At least two signs emerged last week that the proceedings might be intensifying. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on June […]
Money paid, favors done. Messages detail relationship between Ohio regulator and energy executives
In early 2019, news of financial ties between Akron-based FirstEnergy and the man incoming-Gov. Mike DeWine had named to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio began to spread. And as it did, FirstEnergy’s top executives feared they wouldn’t have a regulator they could control, according to documents filed in federal court late last week. […]
Former GOP Chair Borges chair sentenced to five years in massive corruption case
CINCINNATI — It was Matt Borges, the former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, who was handcuffed by U.S. Marshals Friday after being sentenced to five years in prison for his participation in the biggest corruption scandal in state history. But federal prosecutors made clear that they were trying to send a message to other […]
Federal judge blasts disgraced Ohio House speaker as a “bully,” sends him straight to jail
CINCINNATI — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder spent possibly his last moments as a free man around 2:30 p.m. Thursday and they couldn’t have been pleasant. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black gave the Glenford Republican the maximum possible sentence of 20 years and then ordered blue-shirted U.S. Marshals to immediately take him into custody. […]
Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose won’t discuss Householder connections
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday said that it shouldn’t surprise anybody who knew former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder that he’s a crook. But LaRose continues to refuse to discuss his own ties to the scandal for which Householder is due to be sentenced today, Thursday. LaRose’s name came up repeatedly earlier […]
As Borges delay is denied, former FirstEnergy execs say “no doubt” the feds are after them
Judges denied two delays in recent days that would have been key to a bribery and money laundering scandal that took place in Ohio between 2017 to 2020. Lawyers in one suit called it “one of the largest corruption and bribery schemes in U.S. history.” Denial of a delay in one court case means that […]
Judge slams former Ohio regulator for not giving details about how he spent $4.3M in utility money
FirstEnergy conceded it was a bribe, but its former executives and former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo said it wasn't. Either way, a judge in a federal class-action case is again ordering Randazzo to fork over documents — including emails — addressing how he spent the $4.3 million he got from FirstEnergy in 2019 just as he was about to take the helm of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the agency tasked with regulating FirstEnergy.
Ohio SOS gives yet another reason to make it a lot harder for voters to amend Constitution
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday offered another rationale for making it much more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution. Now he’s saying it’s needed to fight a possible power grab like one that grew out of a massive bribery and money-laundering scandal. But LaRose didn’t mention in his op-ed that […]
AEP doesn’t have much to say about its support for corrupt utility bailout
Columbus-based utility giant AEP wasn’t at the epicenter of a historic bribery and money-laundering scandal in 2019. But it also wasn’t very far away as a corrupt deal was hatched in the Ohio Capitol to use $61 million in bribes to pass a $1.3 billion bailout. The name of the nation’s sixth-largest electric utility came […]
Analysis: Bribery scandal shows how Ohio politics is polluted with dark money
CINCINNATI — A utility bailout at the center of a massive bribery and money laundering scandal was such bad legislation — and it was pushed in such bad faith — that it’s hard to see how it could have survived without the more than $60 million in bribes that sustained it. And, while FirstEnergy CEO […]