Supreme Court Upholds Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder's Racketeering Convictions
Justices leave in place convictions in $60M bribery scheme involving FirstEnergy Corp. and House Bill 6 bailout
Quick Look
- Supreme Court upheld federal racketeering convictions of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and ex-lobbyist Matt Borges in a $60 million bribery scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.
- Householder, 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding the scheme to pass a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants through House Bill 6 and defend it from repeal efforts.
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Why It Matters
Larry Householder served as Ohio House Speaker from 2019 to 2020. The bribery scheme centered on passing House Bill 6, which provided a $1 billion bailout to two nuclear plants owned by Energy Harbor Corp., formerly FirstEnergy's nuclear division.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal racketeering convictions Monday of imprisoned former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and ex-lobbyist Matt Borges in the state's long-running $60 million bribery scheme. The high court's ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May. Householder and Borges had appealed to justices after the lower court denied their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges. The Department of Justice secured Householder's and Borges' convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial. Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme illicitly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.
