Topic
The HB 6 / FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal
Ohio's largest public-corruption case — the ~$60M FirstEnergy-to-Householder bribery scheme, its convictions, and its still-unfinished cleanup.
The HB 6 / FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal
Federal prosecutors called it the largest public corruption case in Ohio history — a roughly $60 million scheme by utility FirstEnergy to buy a House Speaker, pass a billion-dollar bailout, and then kill the effort to repeal it. Six years on, it is the throughline of the state's energy politics and a live issue in the 2026 election: the criminal cases are still open, the ratepayer refunds are still landing, and the dark-money machinery that made it possible is fully intact. This is the canonical scandal page; see Energy and Utilities in Ohio for how it sits inside the broader utility fight.
The scheme and the bailout
FirstEnergy wanted a ratepayer rescue for its money-losing nuclear plants and could not get one through the regulators. So it bought the legislature instead. Money moved through Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofit that hides its donors — the same structure detailed in Dark Money and Campaign Finance in Ohio. The cash elected a loyal slate in 2018 and made Larry Householder Speaker of the Ohio House in January 2019.
House Bill 6 followed within months — signed July 23, 2019. It created an estimated $150 million a year in subsidies for FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants, plus ratepayer subsidies for two aging OVEC coal plants. When citizens launched a repeal referendum, FirstEnergy funneled a further ~$38 million through Generation Now to run misleading ads, "conflict out" signature-gathering firms, and harass petition circulators. The referendum never qualified.
Who was convicted
- Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges were convicted of federal racketeering conspiracy on March 9, 2023. Householder was sentenced to 20 years; Borges got five years.
- The 6th Circuit upheld the convictions (unanimous panel, May 2025). On April 27, 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court denied their appeals, exhausting federal remedies. Householder's lawyer said he would seek a presidential pardon.
- Generation Now pleaded guilty to federal racketeering in February 2021.
FirstEnergy's corporate penalties
- $230 million DOJ deferred-prosecution penalty (July 2021).
- $100 million to settle SEC securities-fraud charges (2024).
- In roughly July 2026, a federal judge dismissed the SEC's ~$20 million civil suit against former CEO Chuck Jones, ending the federal civil claim only. Jones and former SVP Mike Dowling still face Ohio criminal charges: their trial ended in a mistrial (April 1, 2026), a grand jury reindicted them June 3, 2026, and a retrial is set for September 28, 2026 — weeks before the election.
The state cases that a pardon can't touch
- Larry Householder faces 10 state felony counts brought by Dave Yost (theft in office, aggravated theft, telecommunications fraud, money laundering, records tampering) over using campaign money to pay his defense lawyers. Trial is set for June 8, 2026; AG Yost: "A federal pardon will not reach these state charges."
- Sam Randazzo, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) chair FirstEnergy admitted paying $4.3 million, was indicted in 2023-24 and died by suicide in April 2024 before trial — the second indicted figure to do so, after lobbyist Neil Clark (2021).
The bill in the mailbox
Accountability and refunds run on separate clocks. In November 2025 Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) ordered FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities to pay roughly $250 million for HB 6-era violations; a December 2025 settlement, approved January 2026, directs FirstEnergy to return about $275 million to customers (~$249M in direct restitution plus ~$20M for low-income and efficiency programs). The nuclear subsidy was repealed in 2021 and the last OVEC coal subsidy only in 2025's HB 15 — see Energy and Utilities in Ohio.
Why it matters in 2026
- Attorney General. The office is still trying the FirstEnergy executives (retrial Sept. 28, 2026) and Householder (June 8, 2026). Dave Yost is term-limited; the Ohio 2026 Attorney General Race between Keith Faber and John J. Kulewicz decides who inherits the prosecutions.
- Governor. The governor appoints Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) commissioners, so the Ohio 2026 Governor Race (Vivek Ramaswamy vs. Amy Acton) shapes utility oversight.
- Legislature. The Ohio General Assembly wrote HB 6 and has repeatedly shelved disclosure bills that would expose the next scheme; its seats decide whether the machinery gets fixed.