After a little over a day of deliberation, a jury found Republican former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and ex-Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges guilty of federal racketeering charges. But there may be more indictments coming in what鈥檚 been called the largest corruption case in state history.
Householder and Borges say they鈥檒l appeal their convictions in a $61 million scheme to pass a nuclear power plant bailout law for FirstEnergy and keep a repeal of that law off the ballot.
David DeVillers brought the case in July 2020, before he and 55 other Trump-appointed US attorneys resigned with the change to the Biden administration, and called it the largest corruption scandal in state history. DeVillers said he was thrilled with the verdict.
And he added that, listening to the comments of his successor in that office, the case may not be over.
鈥淜en Parker has made it clear that there's an ongoing investigation," DeVillers said. "And I'm confident that Ken and his team will follow this investigation to wherever it may lead."
Parker was in the courtroom several times throughout the trial, and he was outside the courthouse after the verdicts. He called them a win for Ohio.
"You cannot sell the public trust. You cannot sell the public trust. It is not for sale. And you cannot conspire with others to sell the public trust," Parker said.
"We have a team that will take the time over the years to meticulously go through all of the evidence to discuss with individuals, to get into to get information as to what was going on in this scheme," Parker said, "to bring those individuals, no matter where they are at what they feel to be the highest points in our state government, to bring them to justice.鈥�
Though FirstEnergy agreed to a guilty plea and a $230 million fine, none of the executives who have now been fired were charged in the case.
