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FBI Agents Search Home Of Chair Of Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission

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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.

FBI agents carry boxes out of the Columbus home of Public Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo.
FBI agents carry boxes out of the Columbus home of Public Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo. [Dan Konik | Statehouse News Bureau]
FBI agents carried boxes out of the home of Public Utilities Commission chair Sam Randazzo. An FBI spokesman says the raid was related to a sealed federal search warrant, and there were no arrests and none expected.

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.