CINCINNATI — Former House Speaker Larry Householder and former state Republican Chairman Matt Borges will find out their sentences this week, a few months after being convicted of racketeering conspiracy charges for their role in a 60 million dollar money laundering scheme.
Householder and Borges are the face what some refer to as the largest public corruption conspiracy in Ohio. The two were found guilty of scheming to take $60 million in bribes from FirstEnergy to help Householder get elected as speaker and pass House Bill 6, legislation that would bail out FirstEnergy’s two nuclear power plants.
“Householder had the central starring role,” said author Kathiann Kowalski. “Householder was apparently front and center in the whole scheme.”
Kowalski has been following the case since the beginning. Back in March, a jury convicted both Householder and Borges, determining FirstEnergy paid Householder $60 million over the course of three years through the dark money through Generation Now.
Householder laundered the money through different accounts to hide the evidence and pay himself and his staff. The jury also found the Householder’s testimony about his trip to Washington in 2017 to misleading.
“The government made a big deal in Householder’s case of about the seriousness of the crime and how it affected the public,” said Kowalski.
But Householder wasn’t the only one responsible for the scheme. According to court documents Borges’ role was to deprive Ohioans of the opportunity to overturn HB 6. He laundered FirstEnergy payments through his account and used money to bribe FBI informant Tyler Fehrman.
“They said he knew that certain activities were not approved,” she said. “He knew where the line was drawn between what was criminal or not criminal.”
The government suggests Borges serve five to eight years in prison based on his involvement. However, his attorneys filed a sentence memorandum suggesting he only get 12 months and one day.
“They were saying, Well, you know, look at most maybe they’ve got him on bribing somebody to turn over information,” she said. “You know, and they said, just give him a light sentence.”
As for Householder, the government suggests that he be sentenced to 16-20 years in prison. Householder’s attorney argues that he should only 12 to 18 months.
“Essentially saying that Mr. Householder had been a public servant for a long time, that he had done a lot of good,” she said. “And they pointed out that he’s 64 years old.”
