Former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling have been indicted on federal charges in connection with the billion-dollar nuclear power plant bailout scheme, the largest corruption scandal in state history.
Jones, the former FirstEnergy CEO, and Dowling, who was FirstEnergy's Senior Vice President of External Affairs, are facing one count of racketeering for their roles in the $60 million plot to bribe officials to ensure House Bill 6 passed and to derail a potential ballot issue to repeal it.
In the indictment, federal prosecutors outline how they say Jones, the former FirstEnergy CEO, and Dowling, who was Senior Vice President of External Affairs, bribed state officials to pass HB 6 in 2019 - chief among them, Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder and former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chair Sam Randazzo.
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"Although the defendants helped pursue the legal interests of FirstEnergy, the defendants also corrupted FirstEnergy by abusing their positions of trust and engaging in criminal activities in pursuit of personal and commercial gain," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Jones and Dowling are awaiting a trial date in Summit County on state charges related to the scheme. Randazzo was also charged in both federal and state court for his role. He died by suicide last year. Householder is serving 20 years in federal prison after his conviction on a racketeering charge in 2023.
Jones and Dowling were expected to turn themselves in to federal authorities in Cincinnati Friday morning.
The subsidies for the two nuclear power plants that had been owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary have been repealed, but the rest of HB 6 stands. That includes subsidies to two coal-fired power plants - one of them in Indiana.
