FBI: Former speaker used dark money on Florida home

Former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder used dark money to pay off his credit card balances, fix up his Florida home, settle a business lawsuit and get a pay boost as House speaker − personal enrichment that added up to $513,669, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.

FBI Special Agent Blane Wetzel walked jurors through how players in a racketeering case received personal enrichment, funded by dark money:

● Lobbyist Neil Clark, who died by suicide after his arrest and indictment in the case: $365,000, including $100,000 to his wife’s trust fund.

● Lobbyist Juan Cespedes, who pleaded guilty in the case: $600,000.

● Lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges, who has pleaded not guilty: $366,000.

● Political consultant Jeff Longstreth, who pleaded guilty in the case: $2.5 million.

Longstreth’s company, JPL & Associates, also paid three fundraisers nearly $1.4 million between 2017 and 2020, prosecutors said. Brooke Bodney, a well-known GOP fundraiser, received $575,000, Megan Fitzmartin received $462,000 and Anna Lippincott received $356,000. None of the three women have been charged with any crimes.

Wetzel also said there were intangible benefits too. He pointed to a text exchange between Cespedes and Borges in which Cespedes said his new relationship with Householder was “like a front of the line pass” to the speaker and his team.

“The truth is the relationship with the speaker and his inner circle and candidates was the true win,” Cespedes wrote in a text message.

Among the repairs to Householder’s

Florida house was a pool cleaning and air conditioning fix. Householder owned the home until April 2022.

Politics as usual?

Householder’s attorney Rob Glickman asked Wetzel a series of questions about what’s typical in politics, such as raising money, renting campaign offices and contacting powerful CEOS. It’s not unusual for lobbyists to draft legislation that lawmakers later introduce, Glickman pointed out.

Before becoming an FBI agent, Wetzel served as a legislative aide for Michigan Rep. Bill Lavoy, D-monroe, and worked on energy policy. That background, Glickman said, should give Wetzel an understanding of how politics work.

Glickman also played the rest of a phone call between Householder and Clark talking about how much money nursing home advocates would give to House Republicans and gubernatorial candidate Mike Dewine in 2018.

“The nursing home money for Dewine is a big number,” Clark said in the call. “(Gov.) John Kasich hasn’t talked to these (expletive) people in eight years.”

At several points, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter objected to Glickman’s questions, pointing to Judge Timothy Black’s decision that Householder’s

attorneys couldn’t argue that many politicos raise money via dark money groups and the practice is typically legal.

Glickman also pointed out that Householder paid $2,642 for his ride on Firstenergy’s private plane to former President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and the state plane was never sent to pick up lawmakers in Chicago to vote for House Bill 6. He also shared that Householder’s campaign rented separate space from The Strategy Group on Capital Square, adjacent to the office for dark money group Generation Now.

Racketeering case allegations

Householder and Borges are accused of participating in a pay-to-play scheme that helped Householder win the speakership, pass a $1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear plants then-owned by Firstenergy Solutions and defend that law against a referendum initiative to block it. They are charged with racketeering conspiracy, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The entire case hinges on a single charge of racketeering conspiracy. Federal prosecutors opted against filing separate charges of bribery, money laundering and wire fraud. Instead, they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Householder and Borges conspired to commit at least two of those crimes.

Glatfelter and her team have shown the jury dozens of bank records, call logs, text messages, emails, business documents and secretly recorded conversations that demonstrate connections between Householder, Borges, Firstenergy officials and dark money groups.

The prosecution’s narrative is this:

● Householder first reached out to Firstenergy executives in August 2016 as he was running for his old seat in the Ohio House.

● In January 2017, Householder flew on the Firstenergy jet to Washington, D.C. and met with Firstenergy leaders at steakhouses.

● When he returned, Householder and his trusted political consultant Longstreth launched the comeback plan, funded by Firstenergy cash flowing into dark money groups.

● In 2018, Householder focused on electing his loyalists to legislative seats − campaigns that were funded largely by Firstenergy dark money.

● In 2019 when he became speaker,

Householder fulfilled his end of the corrupt bargain by paying Firstenergy back with a $1.3 billion bailout.

The case may have never developed had it not been for FBI agents working another public corruption case involving Clark from late 2017 to early 2018. Agents working that case intercepted calls between Clark and Householder that would later come into the statehouse corruption case.

Wetzel said the government never tapped Householder or Borges’ phones. The case officially opened in May 2019 when then-state representative Dave Greenspan reached out to the FBI about House Bill 6.

USA TODAY Network Ohio bureau reporters Jessie Balmert and Laura Bischoff have been following the House Bill 6 scandal since the story broke. They will continue to follow developments and the trial. Follow them on Twitter at @lbischoff and @jbalmert for updates.