FirstEnergy will pay $19.5 million to resolve all litigation with the Ohio Attorney General and the Office of the Summit County Prosecutor related to the H.B. 6 bribery scandal, the company said Tuesday.
The agreement “recognizes the substantial actions FirstEnergy has taken to establish a highly effective compliance program and instill a culture of ethics and integrity at every level of the organization," Brian Tierney, FirstEnergy president and CEO, said in a press release.
FirstEnergy has been cooperating with the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission on its investigation surrounding the company’s role in the passage of H.B 6. in 2019, the company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. H.B. 6 was energy legislation that included about $1 billion in ratepayer support to two nuclear plants in Ohio owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary.
An indictment by a grand jury of Summit County, Ohio, related to the organized crime commission’s investigation was unsealed in February against Sam Randazzo, the now-deceased, former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Charles Jones, former FirstEnergy CEO, and Michael Dowling, former FirstEnergy senior vice president. The indictment charged them with several felony counts, including bribery, telecommunications fraud, money laundering and aggravated theft, the company said in the SEC filing. Randazzo and the former officials were part of a roughly $60 million bribery effort aimed at ensuring the passage of H.B. 6, according to prosecutors.
During a July 31 earnings conference call, Tierney said FirstEnergy was close to an agreement with the Ohio attorney general and the organized crime commission. It took a $19.5 million charge to cover the settlement.
In addition, the Akron, Ohio-based utility company has reached an agreement in principle with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff to settle allegations related to FirstEnergy’s role in the bribery scandal, according to Tierney. FirstEnergy has set aside $100 million for the potential settlement, the company said.
In 2021, FirstEnergy agreed to pay $230 million to resolve an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. In the agreement, the company admitted to bribing officials to support H.B 6.
