If FirstEnergy knows exactly who authorized all those bribes, where are the criminal

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal judge Wednesday lashed out at an attorney representing FirstEnergy Corp. shareholders, demanding to know detailed information about the bribery scheme at the heart of the House Bill 6 scandal.

We’re talking about the shocking hearing, and the frustration of the judge, on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here. See the automated transcript at the bottom of the post.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.

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Here are the questions we’re answering today:

What was the response when a federal judge repeatedly demanded to know in court yesterday who at FirstEnergy paid the $60 million in bribes that the company has admitted to paying?

Why did it take so long for Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission to finally order an audit to find out whether FirstEnergy used customer money to pay for its bribes and corruption in HB6?

Who is Smoky the Dog of Cleveland and what unprecedented honor did it receive posthumously Wednesday?

What does the sale of Nela Park in East Cleveland mean for the beloved Christmas tradition of the Christmas lights?

How is the legendary Cleveland law firm of Squire Patton Boggs doing its part to support the people of Ukraine during the Russian invasion?

Even after the COVID pandemic ends, should we all be wearing masks each year during flu season? What happened to the expected flu season over this winter?

How many bald eagle nests do we have in Ohio, and how has the number grown in recent years?

How is Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb handling his first State of the City Address? Where will it be, and who can attend?

What are the silver linings of the pandemic, according to the readers of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer?

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Read the automated transcript below:

Chris: [00:00:00] We’ll begin today with the correction it’s today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the plain dealer. I’m Chris Quinn with Lisa Garvin and Laura Johnston. And Laura would like to take the floor before we get started.

Laura: Yeah. I want to apologize for a misstatement. I made. Podcast about the AP classes and two bills in Ohio that would limit what you can teach in social studies classes, honesty for Ohio education is a coalition that’s fighting against the two bills in the legislature.

And the spokesman actually said each of the bills hurts the education of Ohio students and the potential of losing AP courses in Ohio makes it worse. So just wanted to clear that up. I misunder.

Chris: Okay, let’s get onto today’s stories. What was the response when a federal judge repeatedly demanded to know in court yesterday, who at first energy paid the $60 million in bribes that the company has admitted to paying Laura.

This is a delightful exchange. The judge just repeatedly [00:01:00] saying, so who, who, who did he get his.

Laura: No, he didn’t. And this is a great story by John Caniglio that gives you, you know, you feel like you’re in the courtroom. And just as shocked as all of the 30 attorneys sitting there going watch just happened.

This is federal judge, John Adams, and he is known for being a bit of a loose cannon. He’s had some spars with people in his courtroom before, but I don’t know that. I’ve seen this before he, so he lashed out an attorney representing first energy shareholders. He demanded the name of the official who approved the $60 million in payments to the nonprofit.

Federal prosecutors say acted as a collection plate for Larry householder. And it basically. Made the house bill six bribery happen. So he said, who is it that paid the bribes? And then he started raising his voice. He said, are you willing to give me the names of the person or not? And the attorney said it was a senior executive at first energy.

He would not identify him citing a confidentially agreement and that involved in this mediation process of the settlement. So Adams ended [00:02:00] the hearing left the bench.

Chris: Well, look, here’s the thing. We are deep, deep, deep into this. We’re going to hit the two year mark of when this became public this summer.

And they know the company knows exactly who the chief briber was. Why isn’t that person charged? I think the judge’s frustration is we’re coming up on the two year mark, what are prosecutors thinking? If everybody knows who did it, why isn’t he charged with bribery? The company’s already admitted to, it’s a great case of a judicial from.

Laura: And obviously this isn’t a criminal case in his court, so he can’t demand it from the prosecutors, but you’re right. It’s a civil case. It’s as the derivative shareholder, a lawsuit and Adams wants to know why the company would settle for just $180 million from the insurance, since the losses to first energy could reach into the billions of dollars.

So he’s trying to get to the bottom of why they’re settling at this amount. We’ve talked about this on the podcast, before that they reached the agreement for 180 million, but it [00:03:00] has not been approved. By a judge yet. And the attorney for the shareholders said it was not part of the settlement, but there are separate attempts to recoup payments from some officials that would be not included in that one 80 million, but.

Chris: But he’s also annoyed because they took this to Columbus to keep it out of his purview. So when he heard about this, he said, get in here. You know, we had this case here. I want some answers, but I can’t help. But think this doesn’t put a huge amount of pressure on the prosecutors to put up or shut up. I mean, the company is saying, we know who bragged.

We know who created this whole scandal in the state house, the biggest ever. So if the company knows, where are the federal prosecutors on this? This is becoming a bit of a scandal in and of itself. And I think that’s you called Adams a loose cannon. I call him a common sense. Jurors expressing the frustration of us, all these people, you know, people in the state house.

For reelection again this year, if they [00:04:00] ever have districts, shouldn’t the voters know if there are any more that were involved in this scandal. When do we see the criminal

Laura: charges? You’re completely right. And Adam said he received a letter from a shareholder asking the judge why the belt board members are not being held accountable.

So, I mean, we talking about voters and the public in Ohio, but there’s also these shareholders that are trying. Money back from, you know, billions of dollars loss from first energy. And so they’re writing to the judge saying nobody else is sticking up for us. And Adam said to the attorney, no, one’s had to suffer the consequences.

There’s some insurance money, but no one has had to pay. And he’s right. And he’s talking both criminally and civilly here. Like if they’re just going to pay out through insurance, where’s the, you know, where’s the pain going to be?

Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, let’s stick with the first energy scandal.

It is just the gift that keeps on giving to reporting teams. Why did it take so long for Ohio’s public utilities commission to finally order an audit, to find [00:05:00] out whether first energy used customer. Our money illegally to pay its bribes and for corruption at HPC

Lisa: Lisa, well, there is a whole lot of obstruction going on.

You might say, I mean, this journey started back in September of 2020 when the Ohio consumers council asked for an audit, they were denied at that time by the PUCO judge Greg price, who we’ve talked about earlier in this podcast who has recused himself finally, um, PUCO. Back then after the Ohio consumers council asked for that audit price, did order a first energy to conduct its own audit.

And guess what? That audit didn’t find any wrongdoing at all with the Ohio consumers council. Wasn’t happy with that. Um, uh, the OCC. For an independent committee to oversee the auditor that will be hired for this new audit, but there’s no action been taken on that yet. So, um, yeah, it’s [00:06:00] nice to have an outside look at this finally, but there were a lot of obstructions thrown up, you know, in, in this investigation.

Chris: Yeah. I mean, the attorney, having those conflicts of interest in continuing to work and declaring there’ll be no outside audit. Unbelievable that, that got this deep into…