New charges against ex-Ohio House Speaker already imprisoned in $60 million bribery scandal
CLEVELAND (WCMH) -- The former state leader serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for facilitating the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history is now being prosecuted by the state.
Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder faces 10 felony charges, including theft in office and money laundering, Attorney General Dave Yost announced Monday. If convicted of the first charge, the Perry County Republican would be permanently barred from running for public office in Ohio.
Householder was convicted on federal racketeering charges last March for conspiring with executives at Akron-based FirstEnergy to pass a $1.3 billion, ratepayer-funded energy plant bailout bill in exchange for $60 million in bribes. He and co-conspirator Matthew Borges, former chairman of the Republican party, were sentenced last summer after a seven-week trial.
The state indictment alleged that Householder improperly used campaign funds to pay for his defense in his federal case. It also claimed he failed to disclose fiduciary relationships and gifts from FirstEnergy leaders and others in his ethics filings.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Householder on a slate of felonies on Monday, including:
- One count of theft in office, a first-degree felony
- Two counts of aggravated theft, a second-degree felony
- One count of telecommunications fraud, a second-degree felony
- One count of money laundering, a third-degree felony
- Five counts of tampering with records, a third-degree felony
According to court filings, two attorneys with the attorney general's office, Carol O'Brien and Matthew Meyer, are the special prosecutors assigned to the case.
In February, Sam Randazzo, the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and two FirstEnergy executives were indicted by a grand jury on more than two dozen state felony charges related to the bribery scheme. Randazzo also faces federal charges.
Householder, who was expelled from the Ohio House in 2021, remains in federal prison in Columbiana County, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He appealed his federal conviction in late February.