Ohio speaker s public corruption case tops the nation usatoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usatoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ohio s public corruption case involving $61 million in bribes in exchange for a $1.3 billion bailout is the biggest open investigation in any Statehouse in America surpassing a similar scandal in Illinois and two closed-out cases in New York. Historically, I haven t seen anything like it, said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matthew DeBlauw, who leads the public corruption squad in Columbus. This case is in a league of its own.
So far, five Ohioans have been charged in U.S. District Court with racketeering. Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. fired its chief executive and other top managers and lobbyists, disclosed it paid $4.3 million to someone who became an Ohio utility regulator, and is in early talks with federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution. And FBI agents searched the home of then Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chairman Sam Randazzo, who then resigned.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman and Supervisory Special Agent Matthew DeBlauw oversee the biggest public corruption case in the the country right now and the largest in Ohio history.
In July 2020, federal investigators detailed how Akron-based FirstEnergy, its subsidiaries and other energy companies gave nearly $61 million to help elect Rep. Larry Householder, pass House Bill 6 containing $1.3 billion to subsidize two nuclear plants and defend the law against the ballot effort to block it.
Householder, R-Glenford, and four others were indicted. Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges have pleaded not guilty. Lobbyist Juan Cespedes and political strategist Jeff Longstreth pleaded guilty in October. Lobbyist Neil Clark died by suicide in March.
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COLUMBUS – The Ohio Republican Party s leaders called on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump, a stunning rebuke of one of their own.
On Friday, the party s governing board called on Gonzalez, R-Rocky River, to resign in a divided vote. They also voted to censure Gonzalez and nine other members of Congress for their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against President Donald J. Trump, according to the resolution.
Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead. He is the third to be censured for the vote by his state party, following Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and South Carolina Rep. Tom Rice.