The FBI this morning arrested the Republican speaker of the Ohio House and four prominent GOP lobbyists in a $60 million federal racketeering conspiracy centered on the 2019 Ohio legislation to bail out economically failing Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio is charging longtime House Speaker Larry Householder; Matt Borges, former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party; political consultant Jeff Longstreth; lobbyist Juan Cepedes, and lobbyist Neil Clark.
Cleveland.com reported that Borges is now a political consultant, Longstreth is a Householder aide, Clark is a prominent Buckeye State lobbyist, and Cepedes worked for First Energy Solutions, which controlled the 908-MW Davis Besse plant and the 1,268-MW Perry station. After emerging from bankruptcy reorganization, the First Energy subsidiary was renamed Energy Harbor Corp., but still owned the two nuclear plants.
HB 6 provides about $150 million annually in support for the two nuclear plants. The Toledo Blade reported last year, “From well-placed campaign contributions, to lobbyist-engineered testimony, to millions of dollars in mysteriously funded TV and radio ads, the effort to get the state legislature to pass a bill bailing out two nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary is a textbook example of how big money can be used to influence public policy in Ohio.”
Householder and the four others have been released on conditions, including no contact with each other, and travel restrictions, according to the Dayton Daily News. The charges bring potential penalties of 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
The feds have scheduled a press conference for this afternoon and The Quad Report will be following this developing story.
— Kennedy Maize