Lawyers for former FirstEnergy executive Michael Dowling want two dark money groups connected to a massive public corruption case to fork over a big pile of records.
In a shareholder civil lawsuit pending in federal court, Dowling's attorneys issued two subpoenas – one to Generation Now and the other to Partners For Progress. FirstEnergy admitted funneling tens of millions of dollars through the two 501(c)4 groups to advance its agenda.
Dowling's team wants financial records and communications that they believe will help them mount a defense against the lawsuit. They're asking for communications that the two groups had with the IRS, the state of Ohio, vendors, law firms and others.
The subpoenas also seek records about communication the dark money groups had with lawmakers, the governor's and lieutenant governor's offices, a lengthy list of other dark money and lobbying groups and those charged in the criminal case – former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges, lobbyist Juan Cespedes and political strategist Jeff Longstreth.
Attorneys in the civil case also trying to obtain communications shared with more than a dozen political candidates or operators, including U.S. Senate GOP candidate Jane Timken, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Paduchik, Republican ad maker Rex Elsass and a handful of Republicans, including Senate GOP candidate Josh Mandel's top campaign aide Scott Guthrie. Guthrie declined to comment.
Timken spokesman Rob Secaur said "Jane and I had no involvement with HB6 and zero contact with Generation Now or Partners for Progress." He noted that Timken called for Householder to resign immediately after his arrest.
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The shareholder lawsuit was filed in August 2020, shortly after FBI agents arrested Householder, Borges, Cespedes, Longstreth and lobbyist Neil Clark on federal racketeering charges.
Federal prosecutors say Householder and his allies took $61 million in bribe money, paid by FirstEnergy through dark money groups, to position Householder as House speaker, pass a $1.3 billion bailout bill and defend the new law against a referendum attempt.
Clark died by suicide in March. Cespedes and Longstreth pleaded guilty. Householder and Borges have maintained their innocence.
FirstEnergy signed a deferred prosecution agreement in July 2021, admitting it used dark money to bribe public officials to advance its business agenda in House Bill 6.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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