
The $4.3 million payment that Ohio-based FirstEnergy made to veteran lawyer and lobbyist Sam Randazzo in 2019, shortly before he was appointed as the state’s top utility regulator, is at the center of the latest criminal trial to get underway in a sweeping $60 million bribery scandal.
Prosecutors allege that then-FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones and then-Senior Vice President Michael Dowling played roles in orchestrating the hefty payout to Randazzo in exchange for several lucrative regulatory favors he would later deliver to the company. Both men have pleaded not guilty to felony corruption charges, denying all wrongdoing and arguing that the money represented fees already promised to Randazzo as part of a long-running consulting arrangement.