True Crime story.
Already has reached the Republican Speaker of the Ohio House, but threads run to the Republican Governor’s mansion. Bear with me.
A little background first.
FirstEnergy’s 10 regulated distribution companies form one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, based on serving 6 million customers in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Stretching from the Ohio-Indiana border to the New Jersey shore, the companies operate a vast infrastructure of more than 269,000 miles of distribution lines and are dedicated to providing customers with safe, reliable and responsive service.
Ohio’s former top utility regulator surrendered Monday in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme related to a legislative bailout for two Ohio nuclear power plants that has already resulted in a 20-year prison sentence for a former state House speaker.
Sam Randazzo, former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, faces an 11-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury Nov. 29 centered on allegations that he accepted bribes from Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. in exchange for regulatory favors, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker’s office announced. Randazzo made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.
The long-awaited indictment is the latest development in what has been labeled the largest corruption case in Ohio history, and while the $1.3 billion bailout was partly repealed after the scandal broke, advocates say the stunning and systemic disdain for utility consumers that was displayed has yet to be addressed with adequate new safeguards.The $1 billion-plus nuclear bailout provisions of HB 6 were repealed in 2021. However, ratepayers continue to pay more than $130,000 daily for the costs of two 1950s-era coal plants. Bills to repeal the subsidies stalled in the last legislative session, and the Public Utilities Commission has not yet decided audit cases dealing with those charges. Ohio’s clean energy standards also remain gutted.
US Department of Justice – Southern District of Ohio:
Samuel Randazzo, 74, of Columbus, self-surrendered at U.S. District Court in Cincinnati this morning. Randazzo is charged in an 11-count indictment that was returned on Nov. 29 and he will be scheduled for an initial appearance later today.
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Randazzo was the PUCO chairman from April 2019 until November 2020, when he resigned. According to the indictment, Randazzo allegedly received more than $4.3 million from an energy company and its affiliates to provide favorable official actions for the company through PUCO proceedings.
Continue reading “Ohio’s Biggest Scandal is Microcosm of War on Clean Energy”The Justice Department has finally followed the logic of the July, 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with FirstEnergy which stipulated that a $4.3 million payment to Mr. Randazzo was a bribe to help pass legislation worth $2 billion to the Akron utility (“Former utilities regulator is indicted, faces 11 counts,” Tuesday).