Former FirstEnergy executives, ex-regulator indicted in Ohio bribery scandal

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Two former FirstEnergy Corp executives, including ousted CEO Chuck Jones, and a former state utility regulator have been indicted in a public corruption case linked to a legislative bill to bail out Ohio's nuclear power plants, state Attorney General Dave Yost said on Monday.

A Summit County grand jury indicted former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Samuel Randazzo, Charles 'Chuck' Jones and former senior vice president of external affairs of FirstEnergy Michael Dowling. The trio are charged with a combined 27 felony counts.

FirstEnergy had previously admitted to paying a combined $64 million to then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and Randazzo through entities controlled by the pair in exchange for favorable legislation and regulatory treatment.

Jones was fired from FirstEnergy in 2020 after federal officials accused Householder of racketeering.

(Reporting by Roshia Sabu in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)