Ex-Ohio House speaker relieved for corruption trial’s start
CINCINNATI (AP) — As his federal racketeering trial kicked off Monday, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder said he is optimistic and looking forward to telling his side of the story.
“It should be a very good six weeks for me,” Householder told reporters as he awaited opening statements in the courtroom. What will reporters hear? “Truth,” he said, adding that he was not nervous or anxious for the proceeding.
The Perry County Republican, once one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians, is on trial in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati alongside lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, in what prosecutors have described as the largest corruption case in state history.
A jury must decide whether Householder, 63, and Borges, 50, are guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering. Both have pleaded not guilty and maintain their innocence. Each faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
“Larry Householder sold the Statehouse,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter told jurors in the government’s opening statement. “He ripped off the people he was elected to serve and made backroom deals to exchange his power for money.”
An indictment alleges Householder, Borges, three other people and a dark money group called Generation Now orchestrated an elaborate scheme, secretly funded by FirstEnergy Corp., to secure Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass legislation containing a $1 billion bailout for two aging nuclear power plants, and then vex a ballot effort to overturn the bill with a dirty tricks campaign. The arrests happened in July 2020.
Under a deal to avoid prosecution, Akron-based FirstEnergy admitted to using dark money groups to fund the scheme and to bribing the state’s top utility regulator. Sam Randazzo, at the time the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, resigned after an FBI search of his home. He has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
Two Householder associates, Jeff Longstreth and Juan Cespedes, and a related nonprofit have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme described by prosecutors and await sentencing. A third defendant who pleaded not guilty died by suicide.
Householder told reporters he anticipates “redemption.” He said it has been difficult being unable to tell his story in the 2 1/2 years since he was arrested, saying he has spent the time working on his farm, walking in the woods and playing with his 4-year-old granddaughter.