In July 2019, Ohio's General Assembly passed House Bill 6, legislation that forced ratepayers to fund a $1.3 billion bailout of FirstEnergy's struggling nuclear plants. The bill passed after an unprecedented lobbying campaign funded by what federal prosecutors would later describe as the largest bribery and money laundering scheme in Ohio history. Speaker Larry Householder orchestrated a conspiracy that funneled $60 million in corporate money through dark money groups to elect loyal candidates, pass the bailout, and crush a referendum to repeal it. In June 2023, Householder was convicted on racketeering charges and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
On July 21, 2020, FBI agents arrested Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder at his rural Perry County farm. The same morning, federal agents raided the homes of four associates: former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges, lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes, and political operative Jeff Longstreth. The 81-page federal criminal complaint detailed what prosecutors called "likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio."
At the center of the scheme was a simple transaction: FirstEnergy Corporation would pay approximately $60 million to a network of political operatives controlled by Householder. In exchange, Householder would secure passage of House Bill 6—legislation that forced Ohio ratepayers to fund a $1.3 billion bailout of FirstEnergy's failing nuclear plants. When citizens organized a referendum to repeal the law, FirstEnergy spent an additional $38 million to crush the campaign.
The conspiracy began in 2017, when Householder created Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organization. The structure was deliberate: 501(c)(4) entities can engage in political activity without disclosing donors, making them ideal vehicles for concealing corporate payments. Jeff Longstreth, Householder's longtime political advisor, managed the organization day-to-day. Between 2017 and 2020, FirstEnergy transferred approximately $60 million into Generation Now accounts.
Federal prosecutors described the arrangement in clinical terms: "This is a story about selling a Statehouse seat to pass special legislation benefiting a company that provided the money." But the mechanics were complex. FirstEnergy routed payments through multiple shell companies and nonprofit entities. Generation Now then distributed funds to House candidates, media firms producing pro-bailout advertisements, and lobbying operations. Householder personally received approximately $500,000, which he used to pay off campaign debts, settle legal fees, and make payments on his Florida vacation home.
House Bill 6 was introduced on April 12, 2019—two months after Householder was elected Speaker with the support of Generation Now-funded candidates. The legislation authorized mandatory fees on every Ohio electric customer's bill to subsidize FirstEnergy's two nuclear plants, Davis-Besse and Perry, as well as two 1950s-era coal plants. Over seven years, the subsidies would total approximately $1.3 billion.
The bill also eliminated Ohio's renewable energy standards, which had required utilities to source 12.5% of electricity from renewable sources by 2026, and repealed energy efficiency mandates that had saved consumers an estimated $5 billion since 2009. Environmental groups and clean energy advocates opposed the legislation. Consumer rights organizations argued it represented a massive wealth transfer from ratepayers to a private corporation. The business community split: manufacturing groups opposed the mandatory fees, while building trades unions supported the bill based on FirstEnergy's claims about preserving jobs.
"This is a story about selling a Statehouse seat to pass special legislation benefiting a company that provided the money. The conspirators sold the Statehouse to FirstEnergy for $60 million, mostly for Larry Householder's personal benefit."
FBI Special Agent Blane Wetzel — Criminal Complaint Affidavit, July 21, 2020Householder used his position as Speaker to control the legislative process. He appointed HB6 supporters to key committee positions. He scheduled floor votes during periods when opponents were absent. He enforced party discipline among the 21 House Republicans whose campaigns had been funded by Generation Now. On July 17, 2019, HB6 passed the Ohio House 51-38. Every candidate who had received Generation Now funding voted yes. Governor Mike DeWine signed the bill into law on July 23, 2019.
The legislative record contains no evidence that lawmakers analyzed whether FirstEnergy's nuclear plants actually needed subsidies. FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary owning the plants, had filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 claiming market conditions made nuclear power uneconomical. During bankruptcy proceedings, however, financial documents showed the plants could operate profitably at prevailing wholesale electricity prices. The bankruptcy appeared designed not to close the plants, but to restructure ownership while securing legislative subsidies.
Within days of HB6's passage, Ohio Citizens Against Corporate Bailouts formed to place a repeal referendum on the November 2020 ballot. Under Ohio law, organizers had 90 days to collect signatures from registered voters totaling at least 3% of votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election—approximately 265,774 valid signatures. The campaign hired professional petition firms and mobilized volunteers across Ohio's 88 counties.
FirstEnergy responded with a $38 million campaign to ensure the referendum never reached voters. Money flowed through Generation Now and a network of newly created dark money groups with names like Ohioans for Energy Security and Coalition for Growth and Opportunity. The groups hired their own signature-gathering firms—not to collect signatures for any ballot measure, but to follow and harass the referendum campaign's circulators.
Paid operatives followed petition circulators to retail locations and public events, intimidating potential signers and filing complaints with store managers to have circulators removed. In some instances, FirstEnergy-funded workers set up competing tables immediately adjacent to referendum petitioners, creating confusion about which petition citizens were signing. Matt Borges, working as a paid consultant to the scheme, attempted to bribe a referendum organizer to provide internal campaign strategy documents and lists of petition circulation locations.
Television advertisements funded by the dark money network claimed the referendum was backed by "Chinese solar companies" and "foreign interests" trying to destroy Ohio jobs—claims with no factual basis. The ads ran continuously across Ohio media markets during the signature collection period. When the referendum campaign filed complaints with state elections officials, FirstEnergy-funded groups filed counter-complaints alleging that the referendum itself violated Ohio election law by not properly disclosing its funding sources.
On October 21, 2019, the referendum campaign submitted 312,456 signatures—approximately 47,000 more than the required threshold. But county boards of elections, reviewing signatures under challenges filed by FirstEnergy-funded groups, invalidated thousands based on technical defects: missing apartment numbers, illegible handwriting, voters who had moved between registration and signing. The campaign fell approximately 2,000 valid signatures short. The referendum was dead. HB6 would remain law.
Federal authorities began investigating the HB6 conspiracy in 2018, before the legislation was introduced. The FBI obtained court authorization for wiretaps on phones used by Householder, Longstreth, and lobbyists involved in the scheme. Agents monitored conversations as FirstEnergy money flowed into Generation Now, as Householder directed payments to House candidates, and as the referendum opposition campaign was organized.
The investigation produced thousands of recorded phone calls, text messages explicitly discussing payments for political support, bank records documenting the flow of $60 million through shell companies, and testimony from cooperating witnesses. On July 21, 2020—13 months after HB6 became law—FBI agents executed search warrants and made arrests across Ohio and Florida.
Jeff Longstreth pleaded guilty on October 29, 2020, to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. His plea agreement detailed the structure of the conspiracy: how Generation Now was created specifically to receive corporate bribes, how FirstEnergy executives coordinated with Householder's team, and how funds were distributed to ensure HB6's passage. Juan Cespedes pleaded guilty on February 10, 2021, providing additional testimony about meetings with FirstEnergy executives and the explicit quid pro quo nature of the payments.
Neil Clark, the veteran lobbyist arrested alongside the others, maintained his innocence and prepared for trial. On March 15, 2021, Clark died by suicide at his Florida home. He left a letter asserting he had engaged in standard lobbying practices and could not have known the broader conspiracy's structure. Federal prosecutors dismissed charges against Clark following his death.
FirstEnergy Corporation was not indicted. Instead, on July 21, 2021—exactly one year after the arrests—the company entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. The agreement required FirstEnergy to admit it "conspired with public officials and other individuals and entities to pay millions of dollars to pass and uphold nuclear plant legislation benefiting FirstEnergy and its affiliate companies."
The company agreed to pay a $230 million criminal penalty, implement enhanced compliance programs, and cooperate with ongoing investigations. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to file criminal charges against the corporation itself. The agreement did not immunize individual FirstEnergy executives from prosecution, but to date, no executive has been charged.
The deferred prosecution agreement detailed payments beyond those to Generation Now. In January 2019, FirstEnergy paid $4.3 million to Sam Randazzo, a utility industry attorney and longtime FirstEnergy advocate. Three months later, Governor DeWine appointed Randazzo chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), the state regulator with authority over electric rates and utility conduct. Randazzo did not disclose the payment during his confirmation process.
As PUCO chair, Randazzo participated in decisions affecting FirstEnergy's distribution rates, cost recovery mechanisms, and regulatory compliance related to HB6 implementation. On November 20, 2020, FBI agents searched Randazzo's Columbus townhouse. He resigned from PUCO the same day. Federal investigators have not charged Randazzo with crimes, though the investigation reportedly continued until his death by suicide on April 16, 2024.
Larry Householder and Matt Borges went to trial in federal court in Cincinnati in January 2023. Prosecutors presented six weeks of evidence: recorded phone calls in which Householder and Borges discussed payments and political strategy, bank records showing $60 million flowing from FirstEnergy through Generation Now to candidates and operatives, and testimony from Jeff Longstreth and Juan Cespedes detailing the conspiracy's structure.
Householder's defense argued he had engaged in legal political fundraising and that Generation Now was a legitimate organization advocating for energy policy. His attorneys claimed prosecutors had criminalized ordinary political activity. Borges maintained he was a registered lobbyist engaged in constitutionally protected advocacy and that his payments were standard consulting fees.
On June 29, 2023, a jury convicted both defendants on one count of racketeering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black sentenced Householder to 20 years in federal prison and Borges to five years. At sentencing, Judge Black described the conspiracy as one that "reaches to the soul of our democracy" and noted that Householder had "sold the Statehouse" for personal enrichment.
FirstEnergy's deferred prosecution agreement allowed the corporation to avoid criminal conviction by admitting wrongdoing, paying a fine, and implementing compliance reforms. Critics noted this outcome exemplified a two-tier justice system: individual conspirators received decades in prison while the corporation that funded the entire scheme paid a fine equivalent to less than 5% of its annual revenue.
The company's board of directors conducted an internal investigation and clawed back approximately $71 million in compensation from former CEO Chuck Jones and other executives involved in the scandal. Jones, Senior Vice President Michael Dowling, and other executives were terminated in October 2020. None have been criminally charged, though Jones and Dowling invoked Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination during congressional testimony in 2021.
"This conspiracy reaches the soul of our democracy. The defendant and his co-conspirators had one goal in mind: to make Larry Householder rich and powerful. They did it by defrauding the people of Ohio and corrupting the democratic process."
U.S. District Judge Timothy Black — Sentencing of Larry Householder, June 29, 2023The scandal extended beyond HB6 to Ohio's regulatory apparatus. The revelation that FirstEnergy paid PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo $4.3 million months before his appointment raised questions about Governor DeWine's vetting process and the systemic relationships between utilities and their regulators. Randazzo had represented FirstEnergy and other utilities for decades before joining PUCO. His appointment placed a utility industry insider in charge of regulating those same utilities—a structural conflict that exists across state public utility commissions nationwide.
Energy Harbor, the company that emerged from FirstEnergy Solutions' bankruptcy and now owns the nuclear plants subsidized by HB6, collected approximately $150 million annually from Ohio ratepayers under the law. The company is controlled by private equity investors who bought the bankrupt assets for approximately $1 billion in 2020. Those investors have received substantial returns funded by mandatory ratepayer fees secured through bribery. Energy Harbor has not been accused of wrongdoing in the conspiracy, though it benefited directly from the corrupt legislative process.
After the July 2020 arrests, Ohio legislators faced public pressure to repeal HB6. But the nuclear subsidies had created immediate stakeholders: plant workers who feared job losses, communities hosting the plants, and building trades unions that had supported the bailout. FirstEnergy also retained significant lobbying influence despite the scandal.
The Ohio General Assembly did not repeal HB6 until March 2021—eight months after the arrests and only after extensive public pressure and media coverage. The repeal legislation eliminated only the nuclear plant subsidies, leaving in place the coal plant subsidies and the elimination of renewable energy standards. By that time, Ohio ratepayers had paid hundreds of millions under the law.
Civil litigation continues. Ratepayer advocacy groups and municipalities filed class action lawsuits seeking to recover subsidies paid under HB6, arguing the legislation was the product of fraud and should be void ab initio. Those cases face substantial legal obstacles: sovereign immunity protections for legislative acts, statutes of limitations, and the practical difficulty of recovering distributed funds. As of 2024, no ratepayer has been refunded money paid under HB6.
The HB6 scandal demonstrated how dark money infrastructure—501(c)(4) organizations that can receive unlimited corporate donations without disclosure—enables systematic corruption. Generation Now operated legally until prosecutors proved it existed solely to facilitate bribery. Before that proof, the organization appeared indistinguishable from thousands of other politically active nonprofits operating across American politics.
Federal prosecutors described FirstEnergy's strategy explicitly: "The company, like many other corporations, feared association with political activity." The solution was dark money groups that could receive corporate funds, engage in political campaigns, and provide legal distance between the corporation and controversial activities. This structure is not unique to FirstEnergy or Ohio. It is embedded in American political finance.
The conspiracy also illustrated regulatory capture's mechanics. FirstEnergy cultivated relationships with public officials over decades through campaign contributions, lobbying contracts, and the revolving door between utility industry positions and state regulatory posts. Sam Randazzo's career exemplified this pattern: decades representing utilities, then appointment to regulate those same entities. The $4.3 million payment was extraordinary, but the structural relationship it represented—utilities influencing their regulators—is ordinary.
House Bill 6 passed through standard legislative processes: committee hearings, floor debates, recorded votes. Citizens testified against the bill. Media covered the controversy. Opposition organizations lobbied legislators. The democratic process functioned—and produced a law written by the corporation it benefited, passed by legislators funded by that corporation, and defended by operatives paid to crush public opposition.
Larry Householder is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Elkton in Ohio, serving a 20-year sentence. Matt Borges is serving five years at a federal facility in West Virginia. Jeff Longstreth and Juan Cespedes completed shorter sentences and were released. Neil Clark is dead. Sam Randazzo is dead. Generation Now is dissolved.
FirstEnergy continues operating as an investor-owned utility serving millions of customers across five states. The company's stock price, which collapsed after the July 2020 arrests, has largely recovered. Its compliance agreement with federal prosecutors expires in 2024, after which the deferred prosecution agreement will be dismissed, leaving the company with no criminal record.
Ohio ratepayers funded a $1.3 billion nuclear bailout secured through the largest political corruption scheme in state history. The bailout was repealed, but the money paid under it—hundreds of millions—has not been recovered. The renewable energy standards eliminated by HB6 have not been restored. The legislation's coal plant subsidies remain in effect.
The case confirmed what critics of American political finance have argued for decades: dark money infrastructure enables systematic corruption; regulatory capture is structural, not aberrational; and corporate political spending—even when illegal—can produce returns that dwarf criminal penalties. The HB6 conspiracy was not a failure of democracy. It was democracy functioning as currently designed: responsive to concentrated money, insulated from diffuse public interest, and structured to provide legal distance between corporate power and its exercise.