Summit County Judge Susan Baker Ross rejected several motions to dismiss charges against two former FirstEnergy executives accused of paying off Ohio’s top utility regulator with a $4.3 million bribe, clearing a major hurdle before their trial. 

Ross’ rejections last week of motions to dismiss the cases against ex-FirstEnergy CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones or Senior Vice President of External Affairs Mike Dowling means January 2026 would bring the first trial of the two executives accused of orchestrating what federal prosecutors described as the biggest public corruption scandal in state history. 

The trials comes six years after the investigation became public

That trial would be almost six years from when the federal government first publicly accused Larry Householder, then the Republican Speaker of the Ohio House, of accepting a $60 million bribe from FirstEnergy, via Jones and Dowling. 

However, the January 2026 trial focuses on a different allegation entirely: That Jones and Dowling executed a $4.3 million payment from FirstEnergy in January 2019 to Sam Randazzo, a lawyer who would weeks later be appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. 

The PUCO regulates utility companies like FirstEnergy, overseeing the prices they charge different classes of customers for power or capital investments in the electrical grid. As chairman, Randazzo wielded significant influence over the five-member PUCO. 

“We’re gonna get this handled this year, paid in full, no discount,” Jones texted Randazzo after meeting with him in late 2018, in a text thread released amid years of investigations. 

“I think I said this last night but just in case – if asked by the administration to go for the Chair spot, I would say yes,” Randazzo responded. 

The state prosecutors say that money was a bribe to Randazzo. In exchange, he waived a regulatory process that Jones and Dowling believed would force them to lower electricity prices for customers and cut into corporate profits. Texts show that, after he did so, Jones texted him to say thanks, along with a picture of the company’s stock price ticking upward. 

Randazzo also worked as an unregistered lobbyist for the company, the prosecutors say, using the prestige of his state office and purportedly neutral perch to lobby in support of a Householder-backed bill to provide FirstEnergy a $1.3 billion bailout, paid for from surcharges on all Ohioans’ electric bills. While the bailout bill passed, the criminal investigations scuttled it before any money changed hands. 

Jones and Dowling have pleaded not guilty

While Jones and Dowling acknowledge making the payment, they say the money was for a legitimate consulting contract. They say that contract spanned from 2015 to 2024, and the $4.3 million was effectively a termination fee to cover payments due in future years. 

The state’s case is narrower than that of the federal government, which accused the two executives of bribing not only Randazzo but Householder as well. A federal trial date hasn’t yet been set. 

Jones and Dowling – represented in the state criminal case by 17 criminal defense attorneys, many of whom were former prosecutors themselves (one was a general counsel to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) – filed a series of motions to dismiss the case. They argued the Organized Crime Investigations Commission established to investigate them was illegitimately formed and alleged other flaws in the laundry list of charges against them. 

Ross ruled for the defendants at first, dismissing two charges of theft against FirstEnergy. However, she upheld the allegations of racketeering, bribery, telecommunications fraud, conspiracy and records tampering, clearing the route to trial. 

Lawyers for both sides didn’t respond to inquiries. 

Long list of guilty pleas, settlements so far in investigation

The two central criminal quid pro quos alleged by the state and federal prosecutors – passage of the nuclear bailout by Householder and waiving of a rate review by Randazzo – came to fruition in 2019. 

The years since then have seen a slow build up of findings of guilt, backing up the prosecutors’ basic claims. 

First, Householder’s political lieutenant, Jeff Longstreth, and FirstEnergy Solutions (a subsidiary in charge of the nuclear plant at the time) lobbyist Juan Cespedes pleaded guilty to racketeering in October 2020, agreeing to cooperate in the Householder case. 

Their testimony helped secure convictions of Householder and Republican political operative Matt Borges at trial in early 2023. Householder was sentenced to 20 years and Borges to five. 

What FirstEnergy says about its role

In the meantime, FirstEnergy as a corporate entity entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. There, the company agreed to pay a $230 million criminal penalty and cooperate with prosecutors. In exchange, the federal government will drop a charge of honest services wire fraud against the company. Over dozens of pages, FirstEnergy’s interim CEO signed a document laying out a detailed admission of how Jones and Dowling bribed Householder and Randazzo, often with colorful details like text messages of images depicting Randazzo, Jones and other alleged conspirators on the faces of Mount Rushmore. 

Randazzo died by suicide before his trial. One of his companies that prosecutors say he used in the scheme pleaded guilty to a series of felonies, agreeing to forfeit $2.1 million to the state. Randazzo’s widow, who inherited the companies, executed the plea deal. Randazzo was the second of the defendants to die by suicide, after Republican lobbyist Neil Clark.

FirstEnergy has paid to settle a series of related lawsuits brought against the company, including:

Civil lawsuits on behalf of the company’s investors and regulatory cases against the PUCO remain. However, as part of a derivative lawsuit (lawsuits that are designed to force change at the executive level), FirstEnergy got $180 million from its insurers after agreeing to not allow six longtime members of its board of directors to run for reelection. 

While the totality of the state’s evidence remains to be seen, court filings suggest several former senior FirstEnergy employees have signed immunity or non-prosecution agreements and will testify for the state. 

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