Three big things we learned from the FBI’s criminal complaint against Householder

1. FirstEnergy Corp. bankrolled the alleged criminal conspiracy

The indictment does not name as defendants FirstEnergy Corp, its subsidiary FirstEnergy Service Company, or FirstEnergy Solutions (now known as Energy Harbor), the company which owned the nuclear assets that HB 6 bailed out, and which FirstEnergy spun off in bankruptcy restructuring. 

However, it makes clear that these companies provided nearly all of the $60 million to fund the operation, most of which it routed through a 501(c)(4) dark money organization called Generation Now. 

2. Exactly how Householder and his associates spent FirstEnergy Corp’s $60 million

The criminal complaint describes how the Householder-run operation then spent FirstEnergy Corp.’s money in four key ways...

3. FirstEnergy Corp. not only funded, but was intimately involved in the operation

While the FBI has not yet charged FirstEnergy with wrongdoing, it describes in detail how close the company and its executives were to the alleged racketeering operation. 

Householder spoke with FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones 30 times during the first half of 2019, and 84 times from early 2017 through July 2019. He spoke with First Energy’s Vice President of External Affairs Michael J. Dowling 14 times during that time period, and with its Ohio Director of State Affairs 188 times during that period. 

-- David Pomerantz, Energy & Policy Institute

Link to full article