News
FBI Agents Search Home Of Chair Of Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The Columbus home of the chair of the agency that regulates Ohio utilities was the site of a search by the FBI this morning.
While it’s unclear why Randazzo’s home was searched, the PUCO is now auditing FirstEnergy, the electric utility thought to be at the center of a $61 million bribery scheme to pass a nuclear bailout law that federal prosecutors say involved Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder and four others.
Before heading the PUCO, Randazzo was a lobbyist for Industrial Energy Users-Ohio, representing large energy users such as Marathon Gas and McDonald’s franchises.
But Randazzo said in recent testimony on a bailout repeal bill that he never did legal work or lobbied for a utility that’s regulated by the PUCO.