FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal: Convictions, Trials, and Payouts

The FirstEnergy bribery scandal refers to the Akron-based utility’s payment of roughly $60 million between 2017 and 2020 to secure passage of Ohio House Bill 6, a billion-dollar bailout for nuclear and coal plants that federal prosecutors called the largest public corruption case in Ohio history. The money bought the speakership of the Ohio House for Larry Householder, the votes to pass HB 6, and favorable regulatory treatment from the state’s top utility regulator. It has since produced federal racketeering convictions, more than $600 million in corporate penalties and settlements, refunds to Ohio ratepayers, and prosecutions that are still active in 2026.

What the Bribes Bought

Between 2017 and 2020, FirstEnergy and its affiliates paid approximately $60 million to Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) “dark money” nonprofit secretly controlled by then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.¹ The money elected Householder as Speaker in January 2019, built legislative support for HB 6, defeated a citizen referendum to repeal the law after it passed, and funded a term-limit ballot initiative that would have let Householder stay in power for up to 16 more years.²

Separately, FirstEnergy admitted to paying $4.3 million to Sam Randazzo shortly before his 2019 appointment as chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, in exchange for favorable regulatory treatment.³ Prosecutors allege the payment was routed through shell companies Randazzo controlled, including Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio and IEU-Ohio Administration Co.⁴

What HB 6 Did

Governor Mike DeWine signed HB 6 into law on July 23, 2019. The law created subsidies for two FirstEnergy nuclear plants and required Ohio ratepayers to keep funding two aging coal plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation. The nuclear subsidies were blocked by litigation and repealed by HB 128 in March 2021. The coal subsidies stayed in place for more than five years, costing Ohio consumers roughly $500 million before HB 15 eliminated them on August 14, 2025.⁵

Who Has Been Convicted

Federal agents arrested Householder, former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges, and three associates on July 21, 2020.⁶ Political operatives Jeff Longstreth and Juan Cespedes pleaded guilty to federal racketeering in October 2020. Longstreth had managed Generation Now and personally received $1 million from it. Generation Now itself pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge in February 2021 and forfeited all its assets.⁷

Householder and Borges went to trial and were found guilty of racketeering in March 2023. Householder was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison; Borges received five years followed by three years of probation.⁸ The Sixth Circuit affirmed both convictions on May 6, 2025. Borges was released from prison in October 2025.⁶

Householder is not done fighting charges. He faces 10 state felony counts in Cuyahoga County, including theft in office, aggravated theft, money laundering, and tampering with records. The March 2024 state indictment alleges he misused campaign funds to pay for his personal criminal defense and filed false ethics disclosures related to HB 6.⁹ A conviction on the theft-in-office count would permanently bar him from public office in Ohio. The trial has been postponed and was most recently scheduled for November 2025.¹⁰

The FirstEnergy Executives Still on Trial

Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and former Senior Vice President Michael Dowling were indicted by a Summit County grand jury in February 2024 on state charges including racketeering, bribery, aggravated theft, money laundering, and telecommunications fraud, all tied to the $4.3 million Randazzo payment.¹¹ Randazzo, who faced 22 felony counts in the same indictment, died by suicide in April 2024 before trial.⁶

The state trial began in January 2026 before Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross. She dismissed theft charges before trial, ruling that FirstEnergy, having admitted to the bribery, could not be treated as a victim on those counts.⁶ After six weeks of testimony from 26 witnesses and eight days of jury deliberations, the jury declared an impasse. Judge Ross declared a mistrial on March 31, 2026.¹² A juror later described splits that ranged from about 8–4 to 10–2 in favor of conviction across the charges.¹³

On June 4, 2026, a Summit County grand jury reindicted the two men on a combined 22 felony counts. The new charges reach beyond the Randazzo payment to include the broader HB 6 bribery of Householder and an allegation that Jones intimidated a former official into lying about a separate $1.8 million scheme. Jones faces eight counts, including racketeering, bribery, tampering with evidence, and obstructing justice. Dowling faces 19 counts, including 14 counts of tampering with records.¹⁴¹⁵

A federal RICO conspiracy indictment against Jones and Dowling, returned on January 15, 2025, alleges they bribed both Householder and Randazzo and used 501(c)(4) entities to move illegal payments. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, and the federal case has largely stalled while the state proceedings move forward.¹⁶ The SEC also filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Jones personally on September 12, 2024, seeking disgorgement, penalties, and a permanent bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company.¹⁷

What FirstEnergy Has Paid

FirstEnergy has paid or been ordered to pay well over $600 million across federal, state, and regulatory proceedings.

DOJ deferred prosecution agreement, July 2021: $230 million, split evenly between the U.S. Treasury and the Ohio Development Service Agency. The company was charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud; the charge will be dismissed if FirstEnergy complies with the three-year agreement.¹⁸
SEC settlement, September 2024: $100 million civil penalty placed in a Fair Fund for harmed investors. The SEC found the company violated antifraud, reporting, and internal-controls provisions of federal securities laws.¹
State non-prosecution agreement, August 2024: $20 million to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and Summit County prosecutors. FirstEnergy must cooperate with ongoing investigations for two years and retain an independent consultant to review its ethics programs.¹⁹
PUCO penalties and restitution, November 2025 through January 2026: the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities to pay $250.7 million, split between $186.6 million in customer refunds and restitution and $64.1 million in civil forfeitures. On January 7, 2026, the PUCO approved an expanded settlement bringing total restitution to $275 million and closing four related investigations. Residential customers began receiving bill credits in February 2026, with a typical household getting roughly $65.61 spread over three months. Another $20 million was earmarked for low-income bill assistance and energy efficiency programs.²²⁰
FERC fine, December 2022: $3.9 million for violating the federal duty-of-candor rule by failing to disclose the payments to Generation Now and Randazzo-controlled entities during an enforcement audit.²¹
Shareholder derivative settlement, August 2022: $180 million paid to the company by its insurers, resolving lawsuits alleging directors breached fiduciary duties. Six directors agreed not to stand for reelection, and the company adopted enhanced lobbying oversight and disclosure requirements.²²

The customer refund amount approved by the PUCO was calculated as triple the $60 million FirstEnergy funneled into the bribery scheme.²

What’s Still Unresolved

A consolidated securities fraud class action, In re FirstEnergy Corp. Securities Litigation, is still pending on behalf of bondholders and stock purchasers who traded between February 2017 and July 2020. On August 13, 2025, the Sixth Circuit vacated the district court’s class certification order, ruling that the lower court used an incorrect legal standard and failed to rigorously analyze whether damages could be calculated on a classwide basis. The case was sent back for further proceedings.²³

The PUCO revoked the certification of FirstEnergy Advisors in November 2021, barring it from operating as a retail energy broker in Ohio.²⁴ A separate evidentiary hearing was scheduled for February 2026 to address whether FirstEnergy improperly used consumer funds for its HB 6 lobbying.³

FirstEnergy has said the PUCO’s 2025 penalty “closes a chapter tied to activities that do not represent the company we are today.”² Whether the chapter is actually closed is a different question. The retrials of Jones and Dowling, Householder’s pending state case, the reopened securities class certification fight, and unresolved PUCO proceedings over ratepayer-funded lobbying keep the legal fallout alive well beyond 2026.

1
SEC. In the Matter of FirstEnergy Corp., File No. 3-22111
2
Utility Dive. Ohio PUC Fines FirstEnergy $250M in HB 6 Scandal
3
Ohio Capital Journal. After Ohio’s Landmark Decisions on HB 6 Utility Scandal, What’s Next
4
WVXU. Two Former FirstEnergy Executives, Randazzo Indicted by Summit County Grand Jury
5
Ohio Capital Journal. Ohio Finally Ends Subsidies for Two Scandal-Linked Coal Plants
6
Common Cause Ohio. A Cycle of Corruption: A Timeline of the Householder HB6 Scandal
7
Oregon State Bar Nonprofit Law Section. Generation Now and FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal
8
WKYC. Larry Householder, Matt Borges Bribery Convictions Upheld
9
Ohio Attorney General. Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder Indicted on State Felony Charges
10
Cleveland.com. Householder’s State Trial Pushed as Attorneys Spar Over Push to Dismiss
11
Ohio Attorney General. Former PUCO Chairman, Former FirstEnergy Executives Indicted
12
Ohio Capital Journal. FirstEnergy Corruption Case Ends with Hung Jury
13
Signal Ohio. Ex-FirstEnergy Executives Bribery Case Ends in Mistrial
14
Ohio Attorney General. Former FirstEnergy Executives Reindicted on Public Corruption Charges
15
Cleveland.com. Ex-FirstEnergy Executives Face New Charges in Ohio Bribery Case
16
U.S. Department of Justice. Grand Jury Indicts 2 Former FirstEnergy Executives for Racketeering Conspiracy
17
SEC. SEC v. Charles E. Jones, Litigation Release No. 26105
18
FirstEnergy Corp. FirstEnergy Reaches Agreement to Resolve Department of Justice Investigation
19
SEC/FirstEnergy Filing. FirstEnergy Non-Prosecution Agreement with State of Ohio
20
City of Lakewood, Ohio. FirstEnergy Customers to Receive Credits as Part of PUCO Settlement
21
Utility Dive. FirstEnergy Agrees to FERC Fine in HB 6 Bribery Scandal
22
Cohen Milstein. FirstEnergy Shareholder Derivative Litigation
23
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In Re FirstEnergy Corp. Securities Litigation, Sixth Circuit Opinion
24
PUCO. PUCO HB 6 Investigations