Larry Householder
⚠️ All Corruption Flags (3)
On July 21, 2020, the FBI arrested sitting Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others in a $60 million bribery case. Federal prosecutors charged that FirstEnergy Corp. funneled approximately $60 million through Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) organization controlled by Householder, in exchange for his passage and defense of Ohio House Bill 6 — legislation that delivered a $1.3 billion ratepayer-funded bailout to FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants. U.S. Attorney David DeVillers described it at the time as 'likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.'
- DOJ SDOH — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder sentenced to 20 years for racketeering conspiracy
- Wikipedia — Ohio nuclear bribery scandal (HB6)
- Wikipedia — Larry Householder
- NPR — Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder arrested in $60M bribery scheme (2020-07-21)
- Common Cause Ohio — HB6 Scandal Timeline
In March 2023, a federal jury convicted Householder of racketeering conspiracy following a multi-week trial. On June 29, 2023, U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black imposed the statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. In May 2025, a federal appeals court upheld Householder's racketeering conviction.
FirstEnergy itself was fined $230 million by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio in July 2021 for its role in the bribery scheme — one of the largest corporate corruption penalties in Ohio history.