Former PUCO chairman Sam Randazzo offloading property after FBI raid

On May 3, 2021

FBI agents remove items from the German Village home of Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo in Columbus, Ohio on November 16, 2020.

After FBI agents searched his German Village condo in November, attorney Samuel Randazzo began off loading real estate holdings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In February, he transferred ownership of a house in the Columbus suburb of Grandview that he bought in 2013 for $346,000 to Samuel Brewster Randazzo for no money. In March, he sold a house in nearby Marble Cliff for $615,950, less than five months after buying it for $600,000.

Randazzo is in contract to sell his 2,836-square-foot waterfront condo in Naples for an estimated $3.9 million, according to Redfin.

A home owned by Samuel Randazzo, the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, at 3637 Crayton Rd. in Naples, Florida, photographed on Friday, April 30, 2021.

Randazzo resigned as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in November, following the FBI raid and a disclosure by FirstEnergy Corp. that it paid $4.3 million in January 2019 to an unnamed individual who subsequently was appointed as a state utility regulator.

Randazzo and his consulting firm, Sustainability Alliance of Ohio, continue to own Ohio properties valued at $2.16 million, auditor records show.

Randazzo and his attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

Randazzo, Householder and FirstEnergy exec owned Florida homes near each other

Randazzo’s condo in Naples is a mile from ocean-front condos owned by the now former chief executive of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp, public records show.

Chuck and Kimberly Jones purchased a condo for $6.35 million in September – just a month before FirstEnergy fired Chuck Jones and two senior vice presidents. The company said the three failed to tell the board of directors about the $4.3 million payment. The Joneses also own another condo in the same complex that they bought in 2008, Collier County property records show.

Lobbyist Neil Clark owned a condo five miles north of Jones’ properties. Clark sold his place for $750,000 on July 15, just a week before his arrest on federal racketeering charges in the House Bill 6 case. The IRS had placed a lien against the property for unpaid taxes and fees. Clark died by suicide in Florida on March 15.

More:Florida authorities investigating death of Ohio lobbyist Neil Clark, indicted in bribery scandal

Clark was among five Republicans charged in U.S. District Court in what prosecutors call the biggest public corruption case in Ohio history. FirstEnergy lobbyist Juan Cespedes and political operator Jeff Longstreth pleaded guilty in October. State Rep. Larry Householder, the former House speaker, and former Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges have pleaded not guilty.

Householder owns a Naples condo, which records show he purchased in 2009. His place is less than 10 miles from the Randazzo and Jones properties.

Jones and Randazzo have not been charged in the House Bill 6 case.

Federal prosecutors allege that an Ohio-based utility company, identified as FirstEnergy and its former subsidiary, funneled more than $60 million through undisclosed political groups to Householder so that he could become speaker and in turn pass HB6, which promised to deliver a $1.3 billion bailout to utilities.

Latest Development:FirstEnergy says talks with feds are ‘constructive’

FirstEnergy disclosed last week that it is in early talks with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio to get a deferred prosecution agreement. In such deals, a party agrees to pay fines, change behaviors and cooperate with prosecutors. In exchange, the government agrees not to pursue a criminal conviction.