Sam Randazzo, the disgraced former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, is dead, media in Ohio reported Tuesday.
Multiple reports said that Randazzo’s body was found late Tuesday morning in a Columbia warehouse that he owned. The Franklin County Coroners Office, which confirmed the death, said the case is a suspected suicide, according to media.
Randazzo , 74, was facing 22 charges relating to his relations with Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. Ousted FirstEnergy CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones and FirstEnergy lobbyist Michael Dowling face similar charges in Summit County Common Pleas Court, which is where Akron is located. All three had pleaded not guilty.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R) appointed Randazzo to PUCO in 2019, and Randazzo resigned under pressure in 2020 due to the scandal that led to his indictment.
FirstEnergy Corp. — former owner of the power reactors at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station and Perry Nuclear Power Plant — allegedly paid $4.3 million to Randazzo for favorable actions while he was PUCO’s chairman. If convicted as charged, Randazzo faced up to 20 years in prison.
This is an offshoot of a major Ohio scandal in which the former state House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement with a $60 million bribery scheme. Those were federal charges.
In 2020, the FBI arrested Householder, three lobbyists and a former campaign chairman on money laundering charges. Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges fought the charges. Two of the five have pleaded guilty. One lobbyist, Neil Clark, killed himself in early 2021. Borges received a five-year sentence.
