The Ohio-based energy company involved in a $60 million bribery scandal has agreed to pay $20 million and will not face criminal charges in a deal with state prosecutors to settle its part in the controversy. FirstEnergy Corp. disclosed the agreement after submitting it to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement involves cooperating with investigations by the state attorney general and the Summit County prosecutor’s office, as well as resolving the company’s connection to a civil lawsuit brought forth by the attorney general in 2020.
As part of the deal, FirstEnergy will make a payment of $19.5 million to the attorney general’s office within five business days. Moreover, the company will allocate $500,000 for an independent consultant to review and verify unspecified “changes and remediation efforts” implemented by the corporation.
In April, two former FirstEnergy Corp. executives were indicted in connection to the ongoing investigation into the corruption scandal which led to the imprisonment of a former state House speaker. Chuck Jones, the former CEO, and Michael Dowling, the former Senior Vice President of FirstEnergy Services Corp., were charged regarding their alleged involvement in the corruption case. Both individuals have denied any misconduct. Another individual charged alongside them, former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo, had pleaded not guilty in federal and state courts before passing away by suicide in April at the age of 74.
Jones and Dowling were terminated in October 2020 for violating company policies and codes of conduct. Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2023 for his role in orchestrating the conspiracy, while lobbyist Matt Borges, a previous chair of the Ohio Republican Party, received a five-year sentence.
Federal prosecutors revealed that individuals involved in the scheme used $60 million in clandestinely funded money from FirstEnergy to support Householder’s favored Republican candidates for the House in 2018 and to aid his election as speaker in January 2019. The funds were also utilized to secure the passing of the tainted energy bill, House Bill 6, and to carry out a purported $38 million dirty-tricks campaign to hinder a repeal referendum from reaching the ballot.
FirstEnergy confessed to its involvement in the bribery scandal as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in July 2021. The company consented to paying $230 million in fines and to implementing various reforms over three years to avoid facing criminal prosecution on a federal conspiracy charge.