Lawyers for pension and investment funds suing Akron-based FirstEnergy report that as they press the company for documents relating to alleged bribery, the company is finding thousands more.
The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Former CEO Chuck Jones and Vice President Michael Dowling directed more than $60 million in company money into 501 dark money groups controlled by former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, between 2017 and 2020. Householder used that money to pass and protect a $1.
FirstEnergy said the payment was made through Randazzo’s “consulting company in return for performing official action in his capacity as PUCO Chairman to further FirstEnergy Corp.’s interests” and that “it was under no legal obligation to make the payment . . .,” FirstEnergy said in its deferred prosecution agreement.
Throughout those proceedings, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker has said that the investigation continues. And as the pension and investment funds sue FirstEnergy, they said the company has been reluctant to provide documents relating to that illegal conduct. The parties have long been battling over the matter — including over the keywords FirstEnergy must use as it searches its records.
The attorneys for the investors also accused FirstEnergy of concealing records relating to Randazzo behind attorney-client privilege. The company conceded that the $4.3 million payment to the regulator was a bribe, so under the “crime-fraud exception,” it can’t use attorney-client privilege to withhold its lawyers’ communications with Randazzo, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said.
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