FirstEnergy public corruption trial begins

The trial against two former FirstEnergy executives who are accused of masterminding the largest public corruption scheme in Ohio history has begun, as jury selection took place Tuesday in Summit County.

“There are so many different fees, and I don’t even know what they’re for,” FirstEnergy customer John Makley said.

For the past several years, when Makley looked at his utility bill, he blamed the state.

“I’m disappointed that because of those indiscretions they threw at us, and the lawmakers have voted for it, it caused our prices to go up,” Makley said. “I’m hoping that the trials will certainly make up for that.”

Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and VP Michael Dowling allegedly paid former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo $4.3 million in bribes, along with $61 million spent to create and pass Ohio House Bill 6.

H.B. 6 was legislation to provide a billion-dollar bailout for their struggling company.

And with that bribe, the costs were pushed onto ratepayers like Makley.

“It’s disheartening,” Makley said. “I’m annoyed that I have to pay more money out of pocket.”

Jones and Dowling face nearly a dozen state charges each, ranging from bribery to corrupt activity. In January of 2025, a federal grand jury indicted them for racketeering.

In March of 2023, a jury found that Householder and former GOP leader Matt Borges, beyond a reasonable doubt, participated in the racketeering scheme that left four men guilty and one dead.

Neil Clark, a lobbyist accused of bribery, died by suicide after pleading not guilty in 2021.

Householder is now sitting in prison, while Borges is out after serving half of his five-year sentence.

In February of 2024, Jones, Dowling, and Randazzo were all hit with state charges. Each pleaded not guilty during their joint arraignment.

In April of 2024, Randazzo would become the second defendant accused in the scandal to die by suicide.

Case Western Reserve University criminal law professor Michael Benza explained that Jones and Dowling will likely use the same defense strategy as Householder.

“This line between legitimate political activity, campaign contributions, those types of things, and when it crosses that line into bribery — that line is very, very fuzzy,” Benza said.

The defense will argue that this was politics as usual; people make donations to candidates and politicians who share interests.

“‘It was all maybe unsavory, it may be unseemly, it may be something we don’t like about politics, but it is the rules, we played by the rules,'” Benza said, imitating what he thought the defense would say. “‘You have to acquit us.'”

FirstEnergy, as a company, has already admitted to bribing public officials, including the $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo.

Makley hopes that the men take responsibility.

“I want somebody to say, ‘Yeah, I screwed up, we owe you money,’ but I don’t know if I’m ever gonna hear that from any of those officials.”

Opening statements are set to happen in the coming days, but the trial is expected to last eight weeks.

What happened to H.B. 6?

There were several portions to H.B. 6.

The nuclear bailout portion was repealed in 2021.

However, up until mid-2025, ratepayers had still been paying a subsidy that funded two Ohio Valley Electric Corporation coal plants — one in Southern Ohio and one in Indiana.

The main beneficiaries for OVEC were American Electric Power Company (AEP), Duke Energy and AES Ohio.

Still, FirstEnergy collected payment for it.

In 2025, lawmakers finally repealed the remaining financial aspects of the legislation.

Following this, utility companies tried to hike their prices.

And it seems that the PUCO is still managing to keep secrets, according to testimony that alleges the state’s utility regulating body is trying to go easy on and help energy companies.

At the end of June 2025, a legal transcript from the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel cross-examined an auditor who admitted that PUCO staff asked him to delete information and recommendations that would have helped protect consumers.

The OCC said that PUCO, under Randazzo, was encouraging auditors to go easy on utility companies and to let them review drafts of the audits before publishing.

Who else is involved?

Major political players have been linked to the scandal. Both Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, whom we investigated for their close relationships with FirstEnergy, are listed as witnesses for the defense.

Neither have been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing.

Former lawmaker Bill Seitz is also listed as a witness for the defense.

His advocacy helped prevent H.B. 6 from fully being repealed.

Once he termed out of the legislature in 2025, the new GOP leadership got rid of it.

Juan Cespedes and Jeff Longstreth, the two men originally indicted with Householder, flipped. They took plea agreements early on, helping the FBI, and are still awaiting their sentencing. The feds are asking for 0-6 months for them.

Scripps News colleagues at WPTV in West Palm Beach reached out to me to confirm the identity of Cespedes, as he is now living in Florida and is opening a bar with musician Diplo.

In December of 2025, we asked Attorney General Dave Yost if he was aware that Cespedes was in Florida and in the restaurant industry.

“I have not,” Yost responded. “I think it’s curious that he and Mr. Longstreth are still pending sentencing, but you’ll have to talk to the US Attorney for that.”

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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.