Exec: Utility bled cash before alleged Ohio speaker bribes

CINCINNATI (AP) — An arm of FirstEnergy Corp. was “bleeding cash” as it explored options for the two aging nuclear plants eventually rescued by Ohio House legislation that federal prosecutors say former Speaker Larry Householder championed in exchange for corporate bribes, a utility executive testified Tuesday.

Steven Staub, the company's vice president and treasurer, told jurors on the second day of Householder's corruption trial that power prices had gotten so low in the years leading up to the bill's passage in 2019 that the Davis-Besse and Perry power plants in northern Ohio couldn't cover costs, let alone make a profit.

“The company was just bleeding cash,” Staub said in response to questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Singer.

Staub said the plants were contributing nothing to the company's bottom line but eating up 90% of executives' time. Meanwhile, FirstEnergy shareholders were pressuring the company to exit the unprofitable business of unregulated power generation altogether, he said.

FirstEnergy's desperate financial situation at the time of the alleged bribery scheme was among issues raised in second-day testimony as federal prosecutors argue their case against Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, in U.S. District Court.

Another line of questioning focused on the limits imposed on operations of 501(c)4 nonprofit groups, often called “dark money” groups because they may accept unlimited contributions and aren't required to report donors.

An indictment alleges Householder, Borges, three other people and a dark money group called Generation Now orchestrated an elaborate scheme, secretly funded by FirstEnergy, to secure Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass legislation containing a $1 billion...