COLUMBUS, Ohio — FirstEnergy customers remain furious at the former utility company executives who raised their bills to allegedly fund the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history — especially as the men pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, former FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Michael Dowling and former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Sam Randazzo all pleaded not guilty during their arraignment in Akron. They are accused of masterminding the corruption scheme — and faced a Summit County judge for the first time.
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They have been charged with a "combined 27 counts of felony violations, including engaging in a corrupt activity, all related to their joint enterprise to hijack Ohio’s regulatory structure for the benefit of First Energy Corporation and for themselves," Attorney General Dave Yost stated in the indictment.
FirstEnergy as a company has already admitted to bribing public officials in Ohio, including a $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo. Jones and Dowling allegedly paid this to him.
The two former executives face a dozen charges each, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery and fraud.
Click here to read each of their specific charges.
Randazzo has already been charged with federal racketeering, which he pleaded not guilty to in December. The state added 22 felony counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery and money laundering.
Summit County Court of Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross is presiding over the case; she spent an hour with the defendants in the afternoon going over bond. As expected, each attorney fought for the least amount of restrictions for their client.
"The man is 74, 75," Randazzo's attorney Richard Blake said. "He's not going anywhere."
Matthew Meyer, principal assistant attorney with the attorney general's office, disagreed.
"Our concern is risk of flight," Meyer said. "Mr. Randazzo... faces charges that if convicted and sentenced, could send him to prison for decades, the rest of his natural life."
The federal charges Randazzo is facing, alone, could be 20 years if convicted. That doesn't even include the state charges.
His lawyer argues that if he is forced to wear the monitor, it would be "just downright unnecessary punishment," and also "mean."
Baker Ross ordered Randazzo to have a GPS ankle bracelet and said he can travel throughout the state. He was given a $100,000 bond.
Dowling's bond was also set at $100,000. He will be required to wear a GPS ankle monitor and cannot leave the state.
The hearing was relatively straightforward until Jones' attorney asked that the former CEO be able to return to his home in Naples, Florida before the trial. The government had a major problem with this.
"That's a relatively short boat ride to a country with no extradition jurisdiction to the United States," said Matthew Meyer, principal assistant attorney with the attorney general's office. "The prospect of decades in an Ohio state penitentiary makes the risk go up."
Although Jones' attorney, Carole S. Rendon, adamantly denied he was a flight risk, the judge agreed with the state. Jones is not allowed to return to Florida and has to stay in Ohio. A property asset freeze, as well as a $100,000 bond, was issued for Jones. He also has a GPS tracker.
They are expected back in court in April. The three men continue to claim innocence. Meyer, once again, disagreed — citing the enormous surplus of evidence the indictment had in it, in addition to their own private information and evidence that came out from the FBI in the recent federal trial involving former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.
"We do not believe this is a $4.3 million coincidence," Meyer said.
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Fast facts
Back in 2019, Householder took a $61 million bribe in exchange for legislation to give FirstEnergy a $1 billion bailout, named H.B. 6, all at the expense of the taxpayers.
The scheme was revealed in three main ways — two separate whistleblowers and a phone wiretap.
Fast forwarding to March 2023, a jury found that Householder and former GOP leader Matt Borges, beyond a reasonable doubt, participated in the largest public corruption case in state history, a racketeering scheme that left four men guilty and another dead by suicide.
In late June that year, federal judge Timothy Black sentenced Householder to 20 years in prison. Borges got 5 years. The two surviving defendants took plea agreements early on, helping the FBI, and are still awaiting their sentencing. The feds are asking for 0 to 6 months for them.
Until 2024, only federal indictments had been handed out.
This bribery scandal has been covered extensively by News 5's Morgan Trau, who followed the legislation all the way through the Statehouse, the arrests, trial, conviction and sentencing of Householder and former GOP leader Matt Borges. She continues to follow it as the next group are indicted federally and by the state.
Now
FirstEnergy customer John Makley says it's about time.
"Give me my money back!" he said.
News 5 has been talking to Makley since the summer, when he was part of the class action lawsuit against FirstEnergy. Although the consumers won, he only got $7 back.
He’s mad because he continues to pay. Since the Householder trial, dozens and dozens of News 5 viewers have reached out to share the same feelings as Makley.
"How do you feel that the people who raised your bills are now getting in trouble for it?" Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked.
"Well, I feel there's at least some justice happening to them, so that we feel better about that," Makley responded. "But it doesn't help our pocketbooks in the long run."
H.B. 6 isn't completely off the books.
The corrupt legislation mainly benefited FirstEnergy's struggling nuclear power plants, but those provisions were later repealed. There are aspects of the bill still in place.
The Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) got a handout from the scheme. It expanded a bailout of the OVEC plants and required Ohioans to pay for two 1950s-era coal plants— one in the Southern area of the state and the other in Indiana. The main beneficiaries of this are American Electric Power Company (AEP), Duke Energy and AES Ohio.
RELATED: Following legal scandal, Ohio utility companies try to raise costs — again
Despite this scandal becoming public years ago, ethics laws in the state have not changed to prevent schemes like this from happening.
There are numerous bipartisan efforts to repeal H.B. 6 totally and to put forward ethics laws. None are going anywhere, it seems.
Makley's bill has also continued to increase. There is only one way the industry could rebuild his trust, he said.
"Try to be transparent is one thing that would at least provide a little more confidence that you're doing the right thing for the consumer," he added.
He hopes the three men take responsibility eventually, he said. Just in the past day, Trau has received over 20 messages from viewers and readers wishing for the same thing.
"It just boils my blood," Makley added. "Just being open and honest."
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
