COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) – Two more law firms have filed a lawsuit over a scandal in Ohio in which it is alleged FirstEnergy funneled more than $60 million to Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.
Berger Montague of Philadelphia and O’Connor, Haseley & Wilhelm of Columbus teamed to file suit Oct. 21 in Columbus federal court on behalf of the City of Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement.
The derivative suit is also filed on behalf of FirstEnergy against the company’s officials. It follows other similar cases in the wake of the FBI’s July complaint against Householder and two FirstEnergy lobbyists.
“Defendants consciously ignored pervasive and obvious red flags for years concerning the criminal conduct and the Company’s ties to Householder, including persistent and widespread public scrutiny over Householder’s past corruption, which, though widely reported throughout Ohio, that did not stop Defendants from seeking out Householder’s assistance in securing the passage of HB6,” the suit says.
“Similarly, one of the lobbyists that FirstEnergy assigned to serve as a key middleman in the scheme, Matthew Borges—who would also later be indicted alongside Householder—had also pled guilty for illegal campaign contributions in a similar public pay-to-play scandal in 2004. Borges would later describe the convergence of FirstEnergy, Householder, and Borges’ firm as an ‘unholy alliance.’”
Householder has pleaded not guilty to the alleged scheme, which includes favorable treatment for two nuclear plants.