Supreme Court deals final blow to ex-GOP speaker in $60M bribery case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld the federal racketeering convictions of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former lobbyist Matt Borges in the state’s sweeping $60 million bribery scandal, leaving intact their prison sentences.

The justices declined to overturn a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which last May rejected the defendants’ challenges to their convictions. Householder and Borges had sought Supreme Court review after the appeals court denied requests for a rehearing by the full bench.

Federal prosecutors secured the convictions in March 2023 following a yearslong investigation and a trial that lasted more than six weeks. Authorities said Householder, once one of the most powerful figures in Ohio politics, led a criminal enterprise funded by Akron-based utility FirstEnergy Corp.

Prosecutors said the scheme used secret payments to help elect Republican allies, install Householder as speaker, and pass a $1 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants tied to FirstEnergy. The group then worked to protect the law, known as House Bill 6, from a voter-backed repeal effort.

Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Borges, 53, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, received a five-year sentence for his role in undermining the repeal campaign. He was released to a Cincinnati halfway house in October and is scheduled to be released Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

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