CINCINNATI — The energy giant at the center of a $60 million bribery scheme in Ohio has admitted to using dark money groups to fund the effort and agreed to pay $230 million and other conditions so prosecutors won’t forge ahead with a criminal case against the company.
Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel said at a press conference Thursday it is the largest settlement his office has secured that anyone can remember.
The company has been accused by authorities of secretly funding a $60 million bribery scheme to help win legislative passage of a $1 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary when the bill was passed in July 2019.
A statement of facts included with the agreement sheds new light on the role a former utility regulator played in a $60 million corruption scheme secretly funded by the company.
The statement provides new details on a $4.3 million payment made to Sam Randazzo to end a purported consulting contract shortly before Gov. Mike DeWine nominated him as the next chair of the powerful Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in early 2019.
And it provides details on what Randazzo did for FirstEnergy after becoming chair, saying that he “acted in [his] official capacity to further First Energy Corp.’s interests related to passage of nuclear legislation and other company priorities.”
“If, as stated in the court documents, Sam Randazzo committed acts to improperly benefit First Energy, his motives were not known by me or my staff,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.
“Mike DeWine should come clean about his discussions with FirstEnergy executives and provide an accounting to the public and the press about any role he and his staff played in the ongoing scandal,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, in a statement.
DeWine has also come under scrutiny for accepting campaign donations from FirstEnergy and for a staffer’s previous connection to the utility.
“In light of today’s admission by First Energy, the campaign will make a monetary donation to the Boys and Girls Clubs in the amount First Energy contributed to the campaign committee,” he said.
News of the agreement came a year and one day after the arrests of former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and four associates for their roles in the bribery scheme.
The Republican Householder has pleaded not guilty but been expelled from the House.