Seven years after executives at Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. paid $4.3 million to a soon-to-be top state official tasked with regulating power companies, a jury will soon be empaneled to answer a simple question.
Was the money a bribe?
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday for a major piece of what’s likely the biggest corruption scandal in state history. Ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, 70, and former senior vice president Mike Dowling, 61, face dozens of charges stemming from the accusation that they paid Sam Randazzo the money mere weeks before Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Randazzo to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in early 2019.
As chairman of the PUCO, Randazzo wielded power over the kinds of costs FirstEnergy could pass on to the company’s 2 million electric customers in Ohio. According to prosecutors, Randazzo used that power to insulate FirstEnergy from regulatory scrutiny that could force the company to lower its electric prices.
The prosecutors say Randazzo also acted as something of an unregistered, shadow lobbyist for the company. They say he used the seeming impartiality of his public office and the prestige of his storied private career as an energy lawyer to lobby for the passage of legislation that would have provided FirstEnergy Solutions’ failing nuclear plants with a $1.3 billion bailout, to be paid by all Ohioans on their monthly electric bills. Passage of that legislation led to a 20-year prison sentence for ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder in a related case.
The trial marks a significant shift for prosecutors away from the public officials accused of accepting bribes and toward the corporate actors accused of paying them.
And it comes via a trial with deep Akron roots. Both defendants went to school in Akron and climbed the rungs through one of the city’s largest employers. And unlike the federal court trial that took place in southwest Ohio, Jones and Dowling are to face the jury just a few miles from FirstEnergy’s downtown headquarters.
Randazzo was charged with racketeering alongside Dowling and Jones. But he died by suicide in April 2024, forcing law enforcement to drop the case against him. His company, via his widow, pleaded guilty to several charges after his death including money laundering and telecommunications fraud and agreed to forfeit $2.1 million to the state government.
Defendants Jones and Dowling speak?
Despite the years of criminal trials, civil lawsuits and regulatory probes, Tuesday begins the first opportunity for Jones and Dowling to clearly mount cases of their innocence. This could include testifying in their own defense, though it’s a risky proposition. Court filings indicate jurors will at least hear and watch several hours of testimony Dowling provided at a deposition in a related case.
Through their many attorneys (the executives are represented by 17 different lawyers in the state criminal case alone), Jones and Dowling have insisted the money represented a termination payment of a legitimate settlement agreement the company had struck years prior with Randazzo’s clients when he worked as a private attorney. But instead of a trust account traditionally used by lawyers, the money was transferred to Randazzo’s company, the Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio.
And previously released evidence shows FirstEnergy executives, including Dowling, scrambled during Randazzo’s confirmation proceedings when a blogger asked the company about a legal filing indicating it owed an unspecified amount of money to Randazzo’s company.
Prosecutors have insisted that FirstEnergy was under no legal obligation to pay the $4.3 million but chose to do so anyway to curry specific favors in return from a powerful public official.
FirstEnergy said the same when it, as a company, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in 2021 with the U.S. Department of Justice that functions similarly to a plea of guilty. The company agreed to pay a $230 million penalty.
Witness lists traded by the parties suggest appearances from company insiders, PUCO commissioners and legal and policy wonks. It also includes both DeWine and U.S. Sen. Jon Husted – both of whom played major roles in appointing Randazzo and helping the company pass its preferred legislation through the General Assembly. They would be called as witnesses for the defense, if they’re ultimately summoned at all. Neither has been accused of wrongdoing.
Fresh evidence?
Much of the trial evidence, including seemingly damning snippets of conversations in text messages and emails, has previously been released. Some of it indicates the company’s support for Randazzo as DeWine staffed his new administration. Others show secretive meetings between Randazzo and FirstEnergy officials.
After Randazzo led a PUCO vote that averted a rate review for FirstEnergy that the company and its investors saw as undesirable, Jones texted Randazzo personally to say thanks, along with a picture of FirstEnergy’s price jumping on a stock ticker.
“Every little bit helps,” Jones said. “My mom taught me to say thank you.”
But some court filings suggest that new facts may come to light at trial. For instance, prosecutors claimed in court filings last week that a senior company executive, Dennis Chack, will testify about a late-night visit he received in October 2020 – after Householder had been arrested and the company subpoenaed. Jones was still CEO at the time.
Clad in dark clothes and a sweatshirt with the hood up, Jones left his phone at home, climbed over the shrubbery of Chack’s house, and tapped on the window, not the door, to get his attention. He gave Chack’s wife a bottle of wine and asked to speak privately with his colleague and friend, the prosecutors claim.
“During that private conversation, Jones indicated that he had lied to investigators when asked about revenue streams and payments,” the filing states. “Jones then asked Chack to lie regarding the advertising scheme involving Tony George.”
The episode has not previously been disclosed. An attorney for Jones didn’t return a phone call. George, a Cleveland businessman, worked as a vendor for FirstEnergy. Previously released company records show Chack was fired for lying about and forging a contract for an already-executed deal with George.
Signal Ohio obtained the full court filing when it was briefly available on the public court docket. Since then, an almost entirely redacted version has replaced it, noting objections from the defense. After Signal Ohio reached out to Jones’ attorney for comment on the filing, Judge Susan Baker Ross called and requested its contents not be published until she could instruct jurors to avoid media coverage.
Editor’s Note: Signal Ohio included details in this story from public records released by the court that were later redacted. We decided to publish this information after weighing the public’s right to know against the judge’s request to delay publication.
Others have pleaded guilty
Since the FBI went public with its investigation in July 2020, several parties have either pleaded guilty, been convicted, or otherwise struck deals with prosecutors.
That includes:
- Householder, who’s now serving his federal sentence while awaiting charges on related state crimes
- Jeff Longstreth, Householder’s top political lieutenant, who pleaded guilty to racketeering. In testimony at Householder’s trial, he depicted Jones and Dowling as masterminds of the bribery scheme
- Matt Borges, a political operative who lobbied for FirstEnergy, was convicted at trial alongside Householder for conduct largely unrelated to the state’s charges against Jones and Dowling.
The federal government also charged Neil Clark, a Householder-aligned lobbyist, with racketeering. But he also died by suicide before his trial.
Court filings and PUCO testimony indicate several former FirstEnergy employees will testify at the trial in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Regardless of the outcome of the state case, Jones and Dowling also face trial on federal charges. That probe spans beyond the state’s case, encompassing not just the alleged bribe to Randazzo, but also to Householder. The two defendants have pleaded not guilty.
FirstEnergy has paid hundreds of millions in penalties
In 2021, FirstEnergy began cooperating with the FBI and admitting to its guilt as a company, pinning the blame on Jones and Dowling while replacing much of its board of directors.
Since then, it has racked up a series of expensive fines. Most significantly, that includes the recent $275 million refund to its customers resulting from a PUCO investigation; the $230 million penalty from the federal criminal investigation; a $100 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; a $49 million settlement from a class action lawsuit with its customers; a $20 million settlement with the state as a result of the criminal investigation; and some other smaller settlements.
Meanwhile, the case of the company investors who sued Jones, Dowling and other executives for alleged securities fraud remains pending.