CINCINNATI — Testimony continued Tuesday with former FirstEnergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes in the federal racketeering trial of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges.
Cespedes was on the stand for the prosecution for the first part of the day. He told the government’s legal team that he and Borges coordinated a multi-pronged approach to fight the ballot initiative that would have killed House Bill 6, which was legislation to bail out FirstEnergy Solutions two failing nuclear power plants in Ohio.
He described their efforts to discredit petitioners looking to get signatures for the ballot. He said political strategist Tyler Fehrman, who was working to move the referendum forward, gave him insider information. Prosecutors allege Borges paid Fehrman $15,000 for the information, but Borges contends it was to help Ferhman after his divorce and for other unrelated work. Fehrman, who became an FBI informant, testified earlier in the trial.
Cespedes also testified that Borges and Householder were both tasked with talking to Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to convince them to use their roles to argue why the issue couldn’t legally be on the ballot. There was a plan to provide both candidates with campaign funds from Generation Now. Instead, the issue never went before voters because of a lack of signatures.
Cespedes then discussed how Householder was involved in the effort to save HB 6 from getting overturned with a ballot initiative, saying he had a meeting with him and then FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) chairman John Kiani. The topic of conversation was a series of TV ads that wrongly stated China was invading Ohio’s electric grid, in an effort to prevent voters from signing a petition to overturn HB6 on the ballot. The ads didn’t sit well with Kiani and the company thought it was time to change the messaging. Cespedes said Householder wanted to stay on course with the ads that were airing.
When defense lawyers began their cross-examination, Cespedes explained he pleaded guilty to racketeering shortly after his arrest in 2020 and agreed to work with prosecutors. In exchange, he said they would recommend to the judge that he not be sentenced to any prison time. They’re expected to continue questioning Cespedes Wednesday.
