News
Print Article

Ohio Speaker of the House Arrested for $61m Bribery Scheme

24/07/2020

Police arrested Ohio’s Speaker of the House on Tuesday for what the state’s US Attorney for the Southern District described as “likely the largest bribery and money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”

Larry Householder, a Republican legislator who was selected to serve as speaker in January of 2019, was arrested at his farm, along with four others that included his adviser, Jeffery Longstreth, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, along with lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes.

US Attorney David DeVillers described in a press conference a conspiracy in which the defendants transferred and received US$61 million through a social welfare organization in exchange for passing a bill that would provide a $1.5 billion bailout to two nuclear power plants that were on the brink of closing.

The nuclear company, referred to in the unsealed 82-page criminal complaint as “Company A”, helped draft the bill in exchange for a series of secret payments that were transferred over a three year period.

The company has since been identified as FirstEnergy Solutions, previously a Fortune 500 company which reportedly relied on the bailouts for half of its free cash flow. Its shares plummeted as a result of the news.

“This afternoon, FirstEnergy received subpoenas in connection with the investigation surrounding Ohio House Bill 6. We are reviewing the details of the investigation and we intend to fully cooperate,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The criminal complaint describes how lobbyists working with the company helped draft legislation on its behalf. In exchange, it distributed bribes to Ohio officials, and helped get them elected.

In a recorded meeting that was transcribed and revealed in the criminal complaint, Neil Clark, once described by USA Today as “one of the best connected lobbyists” in Columbus Ohio, describes how Household “went to war” for FirstEnergy in exchange for millions.

He concluded that he wanted to be around politicians like Householder because they “will go to the wall,” even if it is just once a year.

“If they do it all the time...everybody knows they’re pay to play,” he explained, saying that politicians get exposed for “pay to play” through either “stupidity” or “people who get aggrieved.”

Clark’s lobbying firm, Grant Street Consultants, prides itself on “developing and nurturing the personal relationships and expertise necessary to effectively represent our clients before Ohio’s Governor, Senate, House, and statewide agencies” as stated on its Linkedin page.

“Founding partner Neil S. Clark has built his career on such relationships with key decision makers – no matter the political party in charge. These relationships allow for advance intelligence of pending state actions and even the most informal discussions prove vital in achieving our clients’ success,” it says.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12827-ohio-speaker-of-the-house-arrested-for-61m-bribery-scheme

General

The Team

Meet the team of industry experts behind Comsure

Find out more

Latest News

Keep up to date with the very latest news from Comsure

Find out more

Gallery

View our latest imagery from our news and work

Find out more

Contact

Think we can help you and your business? Chat to us today

Get In Touch

News Disclaimer

As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.