Jury to get case within days
Jurors have spent six weeks hearing testimony and reviewing documents that prosecutors say show Jones and Dowling treating Randazzo as a secret extension of FirstEnergy’s lobbying and regulatory operation. Judge Susan Baker Ross has told the parties she expects to send the case to the jury after final legal instructions, setting up deliberations to begin late today or tomorrow.
The case is one of the most significant corporate corruption prosecutions in Ohio history, following a broader federal investigation into a $60 million scheme to pass and protect House Bill 6, the controversial 2019 law that funneled a roughly $1.3 billion bailout to nuclear plants formerly owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary. A separate criminal case is pending against Randazzo, who has been charged in state and federal court with bribery-related offenses and accused of acting as an unregistered lobbyist for FirstEnergy while leading the commission that regulates it.
Prosecutors: A $4.3M payoff for favorable rulings
In closing arguments Monday, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Meyer told jurors that Jones and Dowling “rigged a process that was supposed to be fair for everyone” by secretly funneling $4.3 million to Randazzo through shell companies he controlled. Prosecutors say the payment, made in early 2019 just before Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Randazzo PUCO chair, bought a regulator who repeatedly intervened to shield FirstEnergy from costly rate reviews and to tweak policies in the company’s favor.
The state highlighted internal messages in which executives fretted that “Ohio 2024” — a looming earnings review — could hammer FirstEnergy’s stock, then celebrated when Randazzo helped push through an order that effectively eliminated the threat. Jurors also saw a 2019 message in which Jones told colleagues he could “almost guarantee” the company would avoid the rate case in 2024, a prediction that came true less than two weeks later when the PUCO, led by Randazzo, approved a ruling FirstEnergy had aggressively sought.
Defense: Legal consulting, not bribery
Defense attorneys for Jones and Dowling countered that the $4.3 million payment was a lawful consulting settlement, not a bribe, and that prosecutors were twisting routine industry lobbying and regulatory advocacy into a crime. They stressed that Randazzo had long served as a consultant and lawyer in Ohio’s energy world, including for industrial power users and FirstEnergy-related entities, and argued that his policy positions predated any alleged payoff.
“Everything that Mr. Meyer just suggested to you was not true,” Dowling’s attorney Steve Grimes told jurors, accusing the state of cherry-picking emails and texts while ignoring evidence that Randazzo pushed back on FirstEnergy at times. Lawyers for Jones similarly insisted that the former CEO relied on expert advice and legitimate channels, insisting there is no direct evidence he ordered or intended an illegal bribe. Neither Jones nor Dowling took the stand, each telling the court they were waiving their right to testify before the defense rested last week.
A broader scandal still unfolding
The FirstEnergy trial is the latest chapter in a sprawling corruption saga that has already toppled former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who is serving a 20‑year federal sentence for leading a $60 million racketeering conspiracy to pass and protect House Bill 6. FirstEnergy itself has admitted in federal court that it paid millions of dollars to public officials and dark‑money groups in exchange for official action and recently agreed to refund more than $180 million to Ohio customers in a settlement with regulators.
State prosecutors say the Randazzo-focused case shows how that wider scheme extended into the state’s top regulatory agency, allegedly turning the PUCO chair into an undisclosed advocate for FirstEnergy’s financial interests. For Ohio ratepayers, the outcome of the Akron trial will offer another measure of accountability — or exoneration — for the corporate leaders accused of driving the conduct at the heart of the scandal.