Ex-FirstEnergy executives reindicted in Ohio in $60 million corruption scheme

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday that a grand jury has reindicted two fired FirstEnergy Corp. executives whose initial prosecutions in the state’s long-running $60 million bribery scandal ended in mistrial earlier this year.

Yost, a Republican, joined Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich in detailing a combined 22 new criminal counts against Charles “Chuck” Jones, the Akron-based energy giant’s former CEO, and Michael Dowling, its one-time top lobbyist.

“The roots of this complex case haven’t changed — FirstEnergy was hijacked by two scheming executives who sought to control the regulator that influenced the company’s stock prices,” Yost said in a statement. “I’m confident that Ohio’s ratepayers will get justice when the facts are unearthed in the courtroom.”

Both men are charged with one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery, conspiracy and tampering with evidence, as well as two counts each of telecommunications fraud. Jones is additionally charged with two counts of obstructing justice, and Dowling is charged with 14 additional counts of tampering with records.

The new indictments come as legal teams for both Jones and Dowling are in the process of seeking acquittals from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross after evidence presented at a six-week trial in Akron failed in March to lead to unanimity among jurors, who deliberated for nine days.

The case centered around a $4.3 million payment that FirstEnergy made to veteran lawyer and lobbyist Sam Randazzo in 2019, shortly before he was appointed as the state’s top utility regulator. Prosecutors alleged that Jones and Dowling played roles in orchestrating the hefty payout to Randazzo in exchange for regulatory and legislative favors he would later deliver to the company as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. That included helping to draft and advance House Bill 6, legislation containing a $1 billion bailout of two aging FirstEnergy-affiliated nuclear plants.

Both were fired in October 2020 for violating FirstEnergy’s policies and code of conduct.

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is serving a 20-year prison sentence for orchestrating a FirstEnergy-funded scheme to secure power, elect allies and pass the bill, then to run a dirty tricks campaign against a repeal effort. Four others were indicted in the scheme, one sentenced to five years for helping thwart the repeal, one who died by suicide after pleading not guilty and two who await sentencing while cooperating in the investigation.

Randazzo also died by suicide while facing state and federal charges. One of the key sticking points at trial was whether he qualified as a public official at the time of the alleged bribe. The $4.3 million payment was made just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him PUCO chair. Republican U.S. Sen. and former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who is running to retain his seat this fall, testified at trial that Jones and Dowling were still pushing at the time for a different person to get the job.

Yost said Thursday that investigators have new information this time around.

“This new indictment includes some additional facts that were not known to us at the time of the first indictment that we became aware of because of a civil lawsuit against FirstEnergy,” he said in a video message. Both DeWine and Husted, who have not been accused of wrongdoing, were served subpoenas in that separate action.

The indictment maintains that, as part of a criminal enterprise, Jones and Dowling carried out a large-scale covert scheme between 2010 and 2021 to bribe state officials and to illegally advance FirstEnergy’s financial interests alongside their own. They’re accused of working in concert to “steal the power of government and bend it to the will of FirstEnergy” and of then concealing the scheme through false ethics disclosures.

Through his legal team, Dowling said the new indictment restates many of the same charges as the first and relies upon additional information that the judge directly excluded during trial, including specific criminal violations alleged against Jones and Dowling that she dismissed.

“The timing of the new indictment comes within days of Attorney General Dave Yost leaving office on Monday,” the statement notes, and just before oral arguments on Dowling’s and Jones’ post-verdict motions for acquittal, which are set for Friday.

Yost is term-limited and was effectively forced out of the governor’s race last year as GOP support coalesced around biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. He announced in May that he was resigning six months before his term ends to take an executive position at Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal think tank. Public Safety Director Andy Wilson has been appointed interim attorney general until January.