Former utility executives are indicted in an Ohio bribery scheme

A former CEO and one of his top executives with an Ohio energy company at the center of a $60 million bribery scheme have been indicted on racketeering charges, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

The former FirstEnergy Corp. executives — ex-CEO Chuck Jones and Senior Vice President Michael Dowling — were accused of taking part in an enterprise to bribe state officials and secure a $1 billion bailout of the company’s nuclear plants.

The pair, already facing related charges on the state level, were charged with federal racketeering conspiracy charges, according to the indictment issued earlier this week and unsealed Friday.

Prosecutors said the two men, through a series of bribery, money laundering and obstruction, sought to increase the company’s stock price and enrich themselves.

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Both denied wrongdoing after they were indicted on state charges last year. The Associated Press left email messages with their attorneys on Friday.

The bribery scheme, which resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for a former Ohio House speaker, centered on FirstEnergy’s efforts to persuade state lawmakers to pass a bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and defend the bill from a repeal effort.

Last fall, Akron-based FirstEnergy was ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pay a $100 million civil penalty for misleading investors about its role in the scandal. The company also struck a deal with state prosecutors to pay $20 million to avoid criminal charges.

The utility admitted to its role in the scheme as part of a July 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company then agreed to pay $230 million in penalties and to implement reforms to avoid being criminally prosecuted on a federal conspiracy charge.

Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced in June 2023 to 20 years for his role in orchestrating the scheme.

Federal prosecutors say those involved used money secretly funded by FirstEnergy to get Householder’s chosen candidates elected to the House in 2018 and to help him win the speakership. The money was used to win passage of the tainted energy bill and to conduct what authorities have said was a campaign to prevent a repeal referendum from reaching the ballot.