Ohio jurors will soon decide whether two former FirstEnergy executives are guilty of state criminal charges related to the House Bill 6 utility bribery scheme.
It’s a landmark moment for what is the largest corruption scandal in state history, in which utility execs allegedly bribed state officials to pass and protect a law to bail out uneconomic coal and nuclear plants and to gut the state’s clean energy standards. Its effects still reverberate today, nearly seven years after HB 6 became law, in the form of higher energy bills, dirtier air, and less solar and wind power across Ohio.
The trial in Akron of FirstEnergy’s former CEO Chuck Jones and former senior vice president for external affairs Mike Dowling is expected to take several more weeks. The state alleges that they engaged in a pattern of corrupt activities including bribing a former public utilities chair, telecommunications fraud, money laundering, and records tampering.
Jones and Dowling also face separate federal charges relating to their alleged roles in a yearslong conspiracy to pass HB 6 in 2019 and to thwart a statewide referendum effort that could have blocked the law.
FirstEnergy admitted in 2021 that it and its subsidiaries had paid approximately $60 million to dark money groups that funneled the funds to an organization controlled by former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican who presided over the chamber when HB 6 passed.
It also admitted paying $4.3 million to a company owned by Sam Randazzo, a lawyer and former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, shortly before Republican Gov. Mike DeWine picked him for that position in 2019.
When a federal judge demanded to know who paid the bribes, FirstEnergy fingered two former top execs: Jones and Dowling. Both deny any criminal wrongdoing.
Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, who once chaired the Ohio Republican Party, were convicted in 2023 on charges under the federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. Requests for review of their cases are pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Householder also faces state criminal charges, and that trial is scheduled for June 8.
Ohio customers have paid more than $400 million in coal plant subsidies under HB 6. The law has been mostly repealed now, but the renewable-energy and energy-efficiency standards remain decimated.
The charges against Jones and Dowling matter not just in Ohio but more broadly, because corruption undermines democracy through government officials serving private people or companies instead of the public.