COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two fired executives of FirstEnergy Corp. and a previous leading state energies regulator pleaded not guilty Tuesday to state charges associated to a $60 million bribery plan that focused on protecting a legal bailout for 2 Ohio nuclear power plants with the assistance of a effective House speaker.
Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Senior Vice President Michael Dowling powerfully pressed back after Republican Attorney General Dave Yost revealed their indictments Monday, challenging reality patterns laid out in the state’s 50-page indictment and declaring a absence of proof.
They and Sam Randazzo, a previous chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio who is likewise federally charged, were arraigned by a Summit County grand jury Friday on a integrated 27 criminal counts, consistingof bribery, theft, appealing in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with records and cash laundering.
The long-awaited indictments significant the newest advancement in what hasactually been identified the biggest corruption case in Ohio history. Former House Speaker Larry Householder was foundedguilty of racketeering last year and sentenced to 20 years in federal jail for masterminding the plan. A lobbyist and previous state Republican chairman, Matt Borges, got 5 years for his function. Both guys have appealed.
Jones and Dowling, who were both fired in October 2020 for breaking business policies and code of perform, did not speak throughout Tuesday’s arraignment hearing before Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross.
Randazzo likewise wentinto a not guilty plea in Baker Ross’s courtroom in Akron, as he did in December in federal court. He resigned in November 2020 after FBI representatives browsed his Columbus townhouse and FirstEnergy exposed in security filings that it had paid him $4.3 million for his future aid at the commission a month before Republican Gov. Mike DeWine chosen him as Ohio’s top energy regulator.
The judge set bond for all 3 males at $100,000 and purchased them to stay in Ohio under GPS tracking. She rejected the demands of Jones’ lawyer, Carole Rendon, that her customer be permitted to forego GPS monito