Sam Randazzo, second from the left, is seen exiting the federal courthouse in Cincinnati on Dec. 4, 2023, with his two attorneys to his left.
Jake Zuckerman/Cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a former state regulator accused of taking a $4.3 million bribe, allowing the state to continue to freeze millions of his financial assets.
The court’s ruling squashes an effort from Sam Randazzo, the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, to reclaim control of money in his bank and brokerage accounts. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost immobilized the funds as part of a civil lawsuit against Randazzo and others, alleging Randazzo might seek to stash the assets before a court could collect them after a potential judgement.
Randazzo has been accused of accepting a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy Corp. just before starting as PUCO’s chief in 2019 in exchange for regulatory favors to the company and helping see to the passage of bailout legislation worth more than $1 billion to FirstEnergy. His alleged wrongdoing occurred at the same time of that of Larry Householder, the former Ohio House Speaker who’s now serving a 20-year prison sentence after he was convicted of taking a FirstEnergy bribe in exchange for championing the bailout.
Officials indicted Randazzo in November. He pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence.
FirstEnergy in 2021 admitted to bribing both Randazzo and Householder in a deferred prosecution agreement with the government.
The Supreme Court ruling Monday applies new financial pressure to Randazzo, who’s mounting legal defenses in both the criminal case and a sprawl of related civil lawsuits.
