Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo, accused of involvement in a more than $60 million bribery scheme involving state lawmakers and energy executives, died by suspected suicide Tuesday morning, according to a spokesperson for the Franklin County Coroner's Office. He was 74.
Randazzo had been a lawyer working with utility companies and with industrial energy users. He was nominated to head the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in 2019. He resigned from that position in November 2020, after his Columbus home was raided by the FBI.
Randazzo was facing federal and state charges for his accused role in the scandal, and had been awaiting trials for both. He pleaded not guilty to the federal charges in December, and entered a similar plea to state charges in Summit County Common Pleas Court in February, along with former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling.
Randazzo became PUCO chair three months before House Bill 6 was passed and signed into law in July 2019. Jones and Dowling have been charged with paying Randazzo a $4.3 million bribe for work Randazzo did for the utility, including authoring some parts of the legislation.
Republican former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and ex-Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges were found guilty of racketeering charges in a federal court in Cincinnati last year. Householder is serving a 20-year prison sentence while Borges is serving five years. Randazzo was accused of federal charges in that same court.
Prosecutors have called the bigger case the largest bribery scandal in Ohio's history.
If you or anyone you know is in crisis, the National Suicide Hotline can be reached by dialing 988.
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