Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder sentenced to maximum 20 years for corruption

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading a $61 million corruption scheme. 

Householder received the maximum sentence for accepting a bribe from utility company FirstEnergy to pass legislation friendly to the company, including a $1.3 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of the company’s two nuclear plants in Ohio. The package was passed into law.

Federal prosecutors requested a 16- to 20-year sentence, saying he “acted as the quintessential mob boss” for the scheme.

“Householder once occupied one of the three most powerful offices in the State of Ohio. He now faces a substantial prison sentence for causing immeasurable damage to the institution of democracy in Ohio, through his direction of a criminal enterprise,” they wrote in a sentencing memo last week.

FirstEnergy paid a $230 million fine for its role in the bribes and fired some of its executives. Most of the energy bailout package was repealed when the corruption was discovered.

Former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges was also found guilty of racketeering charges as part of the scheme. He will be sentenced Friday.

“Larry Householder illegally sold the statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the great people of Ohio he was elected to serve,” federal prosecutor Kenneth Parker said in a statement following the conviction.