The Names Are Given

Utility giant, FirstEnergy’s former chief executive and a top official masterminded payments to public officials…in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme to win a legislative bailout for two Ohio nuclear plants. We reported yesterday the judge in the case ordered the defense to produce the names of those responsible. The two attorneys, under order from a federal judge to reveal the names, wrote in a court document that former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and senior vice president Michael Dowling were responsible for the company’s role. FirstEnergy fired Jones and Dowling in October 2020 for what the company said were violations of its policies and code of conduct…three months after federal investigators arrested one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians in what has been called the biggest corruption scandal in state history. Although the firing of the two executives had implied the scheme was authorized at the highest levels of the company, this is the first time any FirstEnergy executives have been publicly linked to arranging the payments.