Former House Speaker Larry Householder has been indicted again for his role in a corruption and money laundering scandal.
The Glenford Republican is already serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after convicted in March last year of extortion in a scheme in which Akron-based FirstEnergy paid more than $60 million to buy into a $1.3 billion taxpayer-funded bailout.
The state charges allege certain conduct that Householder engaged in after his arrest in July 2020. They also concern debts and other items that Householder admitted during his federal trial that he failed to report to the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics as required.
The former speaker faces a maximum sentence of three to eight years in prison on each of the 10 charges by a Cuyahuga state grand jury. Crucially, if convicted of one of the charges — theft in office — he will be permanently barred from holding public office.
In a video accompanying the announcement of the indictment, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost noted that Householder had served as presiding judge twice and that if he was successful in his appeal of his federal conviction, he “could try a third time.”
Five of the 10 state charges Householder faces stem from his operate of campaign funds to pay lawyers after his July 2020 arrest. In a video interview with Yost, Deputy Attorney General Carol O’Brien said Householder knew it was illegal when he did it.
Several other allegations included the Housekeeper’s “failure to report significant credit card debt dating back to at least 2016, as well as gifts from lobbyists and significant loans from individuals.”
Among the gifts that Domownik received from FirstEnergy were: flights to and from Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
Householder is scheduled to appear in Cuyahuga Common Pleas Court for an April 12 hearing.
The recent state fees follow last month’s announcement state charges against former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Vice President Michael DowlingThe executives are accused of financing a $60 million plan to bail out two unprofitable nuclear power plants owned by the utility so they could be spun off.
Also charged was Sam Randazzo, Gov. Mike DeWine’s nominee for Ohio’s top utility regulator. Jones and Dowling paid Randazzo $4.3 million just weeks before DeWine was nominated to the commission in February 2019.
DeWine’s chief of staff, Laurel Dawson, was aware of the payment, but an administration spokesman said she only informed the governor after the FBI searched Randazzo’s Columbus apartment in 2020. Governor stands behind Dawson because it was not until 2021 that it was alleged that the payment was a bribe, the spokesman said.
In December, Randazzo was indicted by federal authorities for his role in the scandal.
Despite all the accusations and allegations of wrongdoing, the rescue bill, House Bill 6, is still on the books. As a result, taxpayers have paid almost a quarter of a billion dollars to maintain the operation of two aged coal-fired power plants.
Even though Ohio taxpayers bear the burden, one of the power plants It’s not even in Ohiobut in Indiana instead.
