COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The $4.3 million payment that Ohio-based FirstEnergy made to veteran lawyer and lobbyist Sam Randazzo in 2019, shortly before he was appointed as the state’s top utility regulator, is at the center of the latest criminal trial to get underway in a sweeping $60 million bribery scandal.
Prosecutors allege that then-FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones and then-Senior Vice President Michael Dowling played roles in orchestrating the hefty payout to Randazzo in exchange for several lucrative regulatory favors he would later deliver to the company. Both men have pleaded not guilty to felony corruption charges, denying all wrongdoing and arguing that the money represented fees already promised to Randazzo as part of a long-running consulting arrangement.
Opening statements were expected to kick off Tuesday in Akron.
The two defendants were among executives FirstEnergy fired in the wake of the 2020 arrests of then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four associates. Federal prosecutors alleged that the speaker and the others carried out an elaborate bribery plot funded by FirstEnergy that allowed Householder to win the speakership, elect his allies, pass a $1 billion nuclear plant bailout and then foil a proposed effort to repeal the legislation, known as House Bill 6.
FirstEnergy admitted in 2021 to using dark money groups to fund the plot, and a jury convicted Householder of racketeering in 2023. He is serving 20 years in federal prison, a sentence he continues to fight in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Randazzo is no longer here to tell his side of the story at the long-anticipated trial. He died by suicide in 2024, after pleading not guilty to dozens of state and federal charges. But Jones and Dowling have alerted Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross to a list of 58 other potential witnesses they may call in their defense during the closely watched trial.
The highest-profile of those are Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who appointed Randazzo to the powerful Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and his former lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, who DeWine appointed a U.S. senator last year. Husted is making a closely watched bid to retain his seat this fall, likely against Democrat Sherrod Brown. Neither DeWine nor Husted has ever been accused of wrongdoing in the case.
Various court filings show that the two Republicans dined with Jones, Dowling and Josh Rubin on Dec. 18, 2018, at the storied Athletic Club of Columbus. Earlier in the day, Rubin — a FirstEnergy lobbyist and adviser to the 2018 DeWine-Husted campaign — had provided advice to the executives on how to lobby DeWine, then the governor-elect, in favor of the company's preferences to chair the PUCO, according to a text contained in the criminal complaint.
Rubin cautioned the executives not to mention to DeWine that they would be meeting Randazzo at his residence after the dinner. Later in the day, Randazzo texted Dowling a list of figures for the years 2019 through 2024: “Total 4,333,333.” “Got it, Sam,” Dowling replied. “Good seeing you as well. Thanks for the hospitality. Cool condo.”
The next day, Jones also texted Randazzo. “We’re going to get this handled this year, paid in full, no discount,” he wrote. “Don’t forget about us or Hurricane Chuck may show up on your doorstep! Of course, no guarantee he won’t show up sometime anyway.”
Randazzo replied, “Made me laugh — you guys are welcome anytime and anywhere I can open the door. Let me know how you want me to structure the invoices. Thanks.”
DeWine has said that Randazzo did not disclose — and that the governor did not know of — the consulting arrangement with FirstEnergy until it was reported in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
FILE – Plumes of steam drift from the cooling tower of FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, April 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane, File)
MILAN (AP) — The troubled Caribbean country, Haiti, has fielded two athletes for the Milan Cortina Winter Games, and they will proudly wear Haitian symbols — although one less than intended after intervention by the International Olympic Committee.
The skiers will compete in uniforms designed by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean that originally featured an image of Toussaint Louverture, the former slave who led a revolution that created the world’s first Black republic in 1804. The IOC ruled that the image violated Olympic rules barring political symbolism, requiring Jean to come up with a creative solution: painting over the nation's founding father.
Even so, competing on the elite global stage for winter sport is a powerful message of resilience from a tropical nation that has weathered so much tragedy. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gangs have grown in power. They now control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and there has been a surge in rapes, killings and the recruitment of children by armed gangs.
“Haiti’s presence at Winter Olympics is a symbol, is a statement, not a coincidence,'' Haiti’s ambassador to Italy, Gandy Thomas, told The Associated Press at the Haitian Embassy in Rome. “We may not be a winter country, but we are a nation that refuses to be confined by expectation. … Absence is the most dangerous form of erasing.''
Jean, who designed Haiti’s uniforms for the 2024 Paris Games, this time took inspiration from a painting of Louverture astride a red horse by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié.
The IOC didn’t respond to the AP’s request for comment on Monday regarding why this image of the patriot was deemed a violation. But the Olympic Charter — the book of rules and protocol for the Games and Olympic sports bodies — binds the national Olympic committees to staying neutral in political matters. No demonstration of political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic site or venue.
To resolve the issue, Jean engaged Italian artisans to paint out the imposing figure, leaving a nonetheless dramatic image of a charging red horse against a lush tropical background. On its back, “Haiti” is written against an azure sky.
“Rules are rules and must be respected, and that is what we have done,’’ Jean told the AP at the embassy. "But for us, it is important that this horse, his horse, the general’s horse, remains. For us, it remains the symbol of Haiti’s presence at the Olympics.’’
Jean also created a look for women in the delegation. It features golden hoop earrings and a Haitian tignon, or turban, which women were once forced to wear by colonial masters to cover their hair so it wouldn’t upstage that of the colonizers.
“We know that in these few meters of cloth, in this uniform, we must concentrate all of history and a message," Jean said.
Haiti’s path to the Winter Games traces its roots to the creation of its ski federation, on a wave of empathy after its devastating 2010 earthquake. The federation now counts seven athletes, two of whom who will compete in Jean's kit at the Olympics. Both receive financial support through the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity program to help with costs for training, equipment and travel to qualification events.
Richardson Viano, 23, became Haiti’s first Winter Olympian at the 2022 Beijing Games, finishing 34th in the men’s slalom.
Adopted by an Italian family in France at age 3, he initially skied for France before being approached by the Haitian Ski Federation — an organization he didn’t even know existed — and obtaining a Haitian passport. He said competing on the slopes offers a rare chance to challenge Haiti's downtrodden reputation.
“When you talk about Haiti it is in catastrophic terms. … This is a way to find something nice,'' he said by phone from Bosnia, where he was competing in pre-Games races.
The Haitian team also includes 25-year-old Stevenson Savart, the country’s first Olympic Nordic skier.
Adopted by a French family at age 3, Savart turned to Haiti after failing to qualify for France, and is fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I am very proud that I can do that for Haiti,” Savart said by phone from his training base in France, acknowledging he expects to finish well behind the leaders in the men’s 20-kilometer skiathlon. But wearing Haiti's uniform when he competes in Predazzo will be a powerful motivator.
“Having Haiti visible will give me even more energy,” he said.
Ambassador Thomas said he expects the story of Viano and Savart to resonate both at home and among the Haitian diaspora, despite ongoing hardship and political uncertainty back home — or perhaps because of it.
Cathleen Jeanty, a Haitian-American from New Jersey, said she knows very little about winter sports, but will be tuning in to watch Haiti's two athletes compete. Just like her, they grew up outside the country, but still feel connected.
“People who maybe don’t come from underrepresented communities, they don’t realize how important the cultural capital is to be able to stand elbow to elbow with your peers," said Jeanty, 32.
Associated Press journalists Francesco Sportelli in Rome and Graham Dunbar in Milan contributed to this report.
Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, right, helps Livia Audain at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, wear the official uniform of the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, center, helps Megan Thomas, left, and Livia Audain at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, wear the official uniform of the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Haiti's Ambassador to Italy, Gandy Thomas, poses at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, with the official uniform for the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
From left, Livia Audain, Haiti's Ambassador to Italy Gandy Thomas, and Megan Thomas pose at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, with the official uniform for the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, center, helps Megan Thomas, right, and Livia Audain at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, wear the official uniform of the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
