Householder, 63, and Borges, 50, were charged in 2020 in the federal
bribery case stemming from a bill passed in 2019 to bail out Ohio's
nuclear power plants. Federal prosecutors called it the biggest
corruption case in the state's history. The legislature revoked the
bill in 2021.
Following his arrest in 2020, the Ohio House of Representatives
voted to remove Householder from the speakership position.
Prosecutors had alleged that energy distributor FirstEnergy Corp
gave $60 million to Generation Now, a political nonprofit operated
by Householder. Those funds were used for lobbying that secured
passage of the $1.5 billion bill in 2019, according to prosecutors.
Householder and Borges were convicted of participating in the
racketeering conspiracy, the Justice Department said in a statement
on Thursday. The racketeering conspiracy as charged in this case is
punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
FirstEnergy agreed to pay $230 million in 2021 to settle U.S.
government charges in the case. It admitted it paid millions of
dollars to state officials to pursue legislation on nuclear
subsidies and other policies that would benefit it.
"Larry Householder illegally sold the statehouse, and thus he
ultimately betrayed the great people of Ohio he was elected to
serve," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said on Thursday. "Matt Borges
was a willing co-conspirator, who paid bribe money for insider
information to assist Householder."
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Bradley
Perrett)
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