U.S. Announces Arrest of Ohio House Speaker, 4 Others in $60M Bribery Case

The powerful Republican speaker of the Ohio House and four associates were arrested Tuesday in a $60 million federal bribery case connected to a taxpayer-funded bailout of Ohio’s two nuclear power plants.

Hours after FBI agents raided Speaker Larry Householder’s farm, U.S. Attorney David DeVillers described the ploy as “likely the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated against the state of Ohio.”

Householder was one of the driving forces behind the nuclear plants’ financial rescue, which added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.

Also arrested were Householder adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, longtime Statehouse lobbyist Neil Clark, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matthew Borges and Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group, a Columbus-based consulting firm.

Previous attempts to bail out the nuclear plants had stalled in the Legislature before Householder became speaker. Months after taking over, he rolled out a new plan to subsidize the plants and eliminate renewable energy incentives. The proposal was approved a year ago despite opposition from many business leaders and the manufacturing industry.

Generation Now, a group that successfully fought an effort to put a repeal of the bailout law on Ohio’s ballot, was charged as a corporation in the case.

A criminal complaint filed by the FBI says Generation Now received $60 million from an unidentified company over the past three years. In exchange, Householder and the other defendants worked to pass the nuclear plant bailout and block attempts to overturn it.

Householder and the others used the money to preserve and expand his political power in Ohio, the complaint said.

FirstEnergy Corp., whose former subsidiaries owned the plants, donated heavily to Householder’s campaigns and his backers in the Ohio House. The utility’s political action committee contributed $25,000 to Householder’s campaign in 2018, according to an analysis by Common Cause Ohio, a government watchdog.

Householder flew to President Donald Trump’s inauguration on the company’s plane in 2016.

FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary which has since changed its name to Energy Harbor and now operates the nuclear plants as an independent company, spent millions on lobbying and campaign contributions while trying to persuade federal and state officials to give the nuclear plants a lifeline.

FBI agents were at Householder’s farm in Glenford on Tuesday morning in rural Perry County. FBI spokesman Todd Lindgren said only that they were carrying out “law enforcement activity.” The Perry County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it was assisting.

Attempts to reach Householder, Borges and Clark were unsuccessful. A message seeking comment was also left with the House communications office.

The defendants appeared in court and were not required to enter a plea. The judge ordered Householder released on his own recognizance and directed him not to obtain a passport, to restrict his travel to the southern half of Ohio and not to contact any other defendants. The judge also ordered him to remove any guns from his home.

Similar restrictions were imposed on Longstreth. The next hearing was tentatively set for Aug. 6.

Borges has increasingly been on the outs with the Ohio Republican Party establishment since it was taken over by devotees of President Donald Trump. He was recently censured by the party’s central committee, including for helping launch a PAC in June to turn out GOP voters for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The PAC is backed by a group of prominent Republican operatives that include a former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Clark is one of Ohio’s best connected lobbyists, representing a high-powered stable of clients from the pharmaceutical, gambling and alcoholic beverage industries, among others.

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[fairlane]

Fantastic work FBI !!!! . Love your commitment to keeping these individuals out of positions of power and authority over US voters . Keep up the great work . All Ohio and every American thanks you . Sempre fi, GERONIMO SALUTE .

[helenesoumahoro]

What will happen to the shareholder's investments?

[tlm]

I didn't know the doj was still working. Good job!

[GeorgeMinton-jbky]

This is why the Republican party needs to be voted out everywhere in the U.S.A. because whenever a Republican get voted into top jobs Republican indictments always go up. Trump administration indictments exceed the Reagan administration's 236 indictments during the Iran Contra Affair. More criminal convictions than any republican administration even with his rubber stamp Attorney General Bill Barr holding down prosecutions of Trump administration officials. Trump will be the most convicted ex-president once he leaves office in 2021. The evidence is overwhelming and they could even use the RICO act against this one. Fleeing to Russia is his only hope. And the hits just keep on coming Ohio and you are on the top 10 list.

[Ps-cvfo]

The fact that Householder actually thought he could pull this off without getting caught, as speaker of the house, is comical!

[Harrzack]

If this level of stuff is going on at the state level - just imagine the heavy duty criminality going on at the Federal level with all the tools Trump and Barr have put in place. How they can pull it off so glibly boggles the mind! 🤯🤬🙀

[jakkom]

As a matter of national security and to ensure our households can be safely powered and heated for years to come, shouldn't we have a scientific peer reviewed bill regarding the rehab of our nuclear plants? Where are the politicians on trial for campaign donations that lead to subsidizing the fossil fuel industry?

[timwalker]

Mary household her city didn't do it but two of his co-ofendants killed ourselves and then at the federal building in Columbus Ohio boxing in the protesters boxing man and they had to call in about 25 to 50 police officers to get him to get away and somebody on a bicycle having blocked in in the back so they had to call in all them cops to get him to get get gone and they knew that he had corrected all that money and he paid off his cell phone bill not his cell phone bills his credit cards and stuff like that I mean that's kind of crazy to rip off the American people with $60 billion 61 billion dollars you know you're going to get caught so you know why trying to beat the system now that's one way to go to jail the prison for 20 years like they said and you're going to pay back a lot of money probably lose both for your houses and other places that you own you have bought a lot of stuff with that money and your wife probably had something to do with it but you're going to say that you done all the stuff when you really amick commit to it but you're not going to meant to it but the FBI does have all the paperwork and all the stuff that you have spent the money on so they was watching you and all the way and you know hopefully one day you'll get out of prison and tell them that you did not do it but they know you done it so you know hopefully they'll get some of the money back I'm pretty sure they have already got some of the money back oh well I just wanted to say that and you know you can't keep them off the system and getting away with it doesn't work like that

[bernardfinucane]

Hope the arrest the other perps as well -- the heads of the companies involved.

[Dan-fznn]

Just hope this gets worked out without increasing the payments too much.

[carolynmarie]

This video should have 100, 000 views...Sheesh

[caressagivens]

Householder was very compliant because he squirreled away some of that money for a high profile attorney. Do you think he actually went into this without a contingency plan? 🤨

[johnkame]

wow! bigger than the republican's last big money maker "coingate"

[Alduinsshadow]

BUY FE stock? Recent 3Q is good first time 3 Billion in revenue

[hypothalapotamus]

Ohio State Legislature: Let's bail out some coal plants in Indiana. Not doing so would be socialism.

[dizzolve]

I bet a guy like Householder will roll on peeps. This should get interesting