COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state of Ohio is investigating FirstEnergy for its role in bribing lawmakers to benefit the failing company. The corporation already pleaded guilty in the federal case.
On the day Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 6 into law in 2019, two First Energy executives celebrated their win.
"We made a bbiiiiiiig bet and it paid off," former CEO Chuck Jones texted.
“Huge bet and we played it all right on the budget and HB 6 - so we can go back for more!” former Vice President Michael Dowling responded.
That win would come crashing down a year later.
This June, former House Speaker Larry Householder got 20 years in prison for his role in the state’s largest bribery scheme. He accepted a $61 million bribe from FirstEnergy and other utilities in exchange for a $1.3 billion dollar bailout to help their struggling nuclear power plants.
This scandal was covered extensively by News 5, which followed the legislation all the way through the Statehouse, the arrests, trial, conviction and sentencing of Householder and former GOP leader Matt Borges.
"You've already got an admission by FirstEnergy that they did it," said Michael Benza, criminal law professor at Case Western Reserve University.
Benza explained that FirstEnergy, as a company, signed a deferred prosecution agreement before the trial began. This means they agreed to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation in exchange for lighter penalties. Still, the corporation had to pay $230 million.
Yet the crash continues to reverberate around the Statehouse.
"It often comes as a surprise to people to learn that you can be charged with the same crime by two different jurisdictions," Benza added.
FirstEnergy received a subpoena from the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC), their spokesperson Jennifer Young told News 5 Thursday. News 5 was sent the FirstEnergy filing disclosing the subpoena on Tuesday after it was released in a quarterly report by the company.
"We were not aware of the investigation prior to receiving that subpoena, and we are cooperating with the OOCIC," Young said. "While we can’t speak for the OOCIC, our belief is that this investigation is in an early stage."
This comes among other legal challenges from the attorney general and ratepayers. Read more about this on News 5's media partner Ohio Capital Journal.
News 5 asked FirstEnergy if they felt they had taken responsibility for the events leading up to the corrupt legislation and if they feel they should be doing more.
"As you know, FirstEnergy has accepted full responsibility for its past actions and has addressed them by entering into the Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Department of Justice in July 2021 and paying a substantial penalty in connection with that resolution," Young responded.
The spokesperson then added that the company is unable to comment further.
New chapter?
This could be the beginning of the major state investigations into the scandal.
"The scandal is certainly going to be with us for at least another couple of years," CWRU law professor Jonathan Entin said. "Depending on what comes out of the state investigation, it may be longer."
Technically, the state can go after anyone, even if the federal government already sentenced them, Entin said.
So why go after FirstEnergy first, instead of Householder, the convicted felon?
"To the extent that we want to try to clean up the H.B. 6 scandal — it makes more sense for us to go after other folks who so far have not faced any kind of federal charge," Entin explained.
In response to one of the class action lawsuits against FirstEnergy, Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling were issued deposition notices.
The pair took time to respond because "of the looming potential indictments" of themselves, "whom the government repeatedly referred to as alleged coconspirators during the Householder trial."
The opposing counsel noted that they wish to take these depositions as quickly as possible because they expect Jones and Dowling to be indicted "and an indictment would complicate their discovery efforts."
"A fine would be levied against the company because you can't put the company in prison" if the state investigation ends with a guilty verdict, Benza said. "But you could sentence the president, the CFO, other people who did it — to prison time as individuals."
The attorney general's spokesperson Bethany McCorkle couldn't corroborate the FirstEnergy subpoena, telling News 5 that if an investigation existed, they would be explicitly prohibited from disclosing it.
When asked if the state is looking into investigating others, like Householder, McCorkle said they can't confirm or deny.
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