COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s political operation accepted more than $ 60 million in bribes from FirstEnergy Corp. to secure the company a $ 1.3 billion public bailout, according to a federal complaint. presented on Thursday.
The head of the family, chief political adviser Jeff Longstreth, and lobbyists Matt Borges, Neil Clark, and Juan Cespedes used the bribe money to expand the speaker’s political power and enrich himself by millions of dollars through a “network” of groups of dark money and bank accounts, including 501 (c) (4) generation now, according to the complaint.
The head of the family and the other four were accused of conspiracy to commit organized crime. Each could face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $ 250,000, judicial officials said Tuesday.
“(It) is probably the largest money laundering and bribery scheme ever perpetrated against people in the state of Ohio,” David DeVillers, the US attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said during a press conference Tuesday.
In total, Householder received more than $ 500,000 for his personal benefit, according to DeVillers.
More than $ 100,000 of the FirstEnergy Corp. bribe money was used to pay the costs associated with the Householder house in Florida, and at least $ 97,000 was used to pay the expenses of the House House’s House 2018 campaign, according to the complaint.
The complaint does not mention FirstEnergy Corp. by name. It also does not name FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. that operated the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants (and continues to operate under the name Energy Harbor after separating from FirstEnergy earlier this year).
Instead, the complaint refers to both under the collective name “Company A”. There are numerous gifts that FirstEnergy is “Company A”, including that the complaint quotes public comments from former FirstEnergy Corp. President / CEO Charles Jones, labeling him as “President and CEO of Company A Corp.”.
DeVillers said there is a “strong inference” in the complaint that Householder and its allies approached FirstEnergy, rather than the other way around.
“This company went looking for someone to bribe them,” said DeVillers.
Borges, a former president of the Ohio Republican Party, received $ 1.62 million transferred to his lobbying firm’s account, and paid himself about $ 350,000, according to the lawsuit. Borges also allegedly offered someone on the side of the referendum $ 15,000 to become a mole within the campaign for the referendum and hired a private investigator, who according to the complaint is consistent with efforts to investigate petition collectors. .
Longstreth, Householder’s chief political strategist, transferred more than $ 10.5 million in bribe payments to his company, JPL & Associates, as well as another $ 4.4 million by indirect means, according to the complaint. Longstreth also allegedly personally benefited, receiving more than $ 5 million in bribe money, including at least $ 1 million transferred to his brokerage account in January 2020.
Cespedes, FirstEnergy’s main lobbyist for HB6, served as a “key intermediary” for the operation, according to the complaint. He allegedly received around $ 600,000 from Team Householder and $ 227,000 from FirstEnergy.
Clark, a prominent lobbyist in Capitol Square who described himself as Householder’s “hitman”, received $ 290,000, according to the complaint.
In 2018, Team Householder spent the money from FirstEnergy, led through Generation Now, on 21 different legislative candidates backed by Householder, according to the lawsuit.
Another money went to combat an attempt (ultimately unsuccessful) by HB6 opponents last summer to organize a state referendum to repeal HB6, which Governor Mike DeWine signed in late July 2019.
Between July and October of last year, FirstEnergy Solutions transferred more than $ 38 million to Generation Now to help defeat the referendum effort, which the group did through a barrage of commercials and television schemes to prevent opponents from picking up the necessary signatures, including hiring people to intimidate petition pollsters.
No one from FirstEnergy Corp., nor Energy Harbor, was charged in the complaint. Phone calls to spokespersons for FirstEnergy Corp. and Energy Harbor on Tuesday morning were not answered as of Tuesday afternoon.
