Ohio energy executives indicted for $60 million bribery schemes

Two former senior leaders at FirstEnergy stand accused of bribing public officials and laundering money for personal and company gains, the Department of Justice said Friday. Charles E. Jones and Michael Dowling were federally charged with racketeering conspiracy for abusing their positions of trust and inflating the company’s stock prices, the release added. Jones, 69, served as both president and CEO before his 2020 termination. Dowling, 60, was also fired in 2020 while serving as senior vice president. Both already faced similar charges from state prosecutors before a federal jury issued the indictment on Wednesday.

What kind of fraud? Prosecutors alleged that the pair paid over $59 million to a tax-exempt entity controlled by former Ohio state House Rep. Larry Householder. The congressman used the funding to become Speaker of the House and then passed a billion-dollar bailout for FirstEnergy’s nuclear plants, the DOJ alleged. The executives also used another tax-exempt entity to funnel money from FirstEnergy into other accounts linked to public officials, the release added.

Prosecutors claimed that Jones and Dowling also lobbied for company-approved appointments to the state’s utilities board, with the board chairman’s companies receiving over $4.3 million from First Energy. The defendants each face up to 20 years in prison for the charges, according to the DOJ. The men have not yet entered pleas in the case, and all defendants are innocent until proven guilty.