Jury deliberating in corruption trial of ex-FirstEnergy executives accused of $4.3 million bribe

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jurors in Akron began deliberating Tuesday in the corruption trial of two fired FirstEnergy Corp. executives charged for their alleged roles in a sweeping $60 million bribery scheme that resulted in a lucrative bailout of two affiliated nuclear plants.

Former CEO Chuck Jones and ex-senior vice president Michael Dowling face charges of corruption, bribery, conspiracy and aggravated theft for paying $4.3 million to a future top utility regulator in Ohio who helped draft the bailout legislation known as House Bill 6 and delivered the company other favors. Both have pleaded not guilty.

During closing arguments that spanned two days, prosecutors drove home their argument that Jones and Dowling purposely corrupted Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chair-to-be Sam Randazzo for their own benefit. They said securing Randazzo's help to land coveted legislative and regulatory favors bolstered the Akron-based utility giant's bottom line, which was tied directly to the financial compensation of Jones and Dowling.

“They rigged a process that was supposed to be fair for everyone. Their corruption here was using power, influence and money for personal and corporate greed,” Special Assistant Attorney General Matthew Meyer told jurors Monday. “By cleverly structuring the timing and labels of their payoff to Sam Randazzo, these two captains of industry behaved like they were untouchable.”

The defense called that argument ridiculous, reiterating their position that the payment to Randazzo — delivered in early January 2019, before he was a candidate for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio — represented an aboveboard legal settlement.

“Chuck Jones did not bribe Sam Randazzo,” Jones' attorney Carole Rendon told jurors on Tuesday. “He made a legitimate business decision to terminate a settlement agreement that was for Sam Randazzo's clients, the members of IEU-Ohio.” Industrial Energy Users-Ohio was one of Randazzo's businesses.

Text messages between the ex-executives and advice they were parsing for speaking to then-Gov.-elect Mike DeWine and then-Lt. Gov.-elect Jon Husted, a current U.S. senator who testified at the trial — as well as evidence from various postelection meetings — were used as evidence that prosecutors said showed that the two men had a detailed plan for enriching themselves while taking advantage of Ohioans.

Dowling's attorney Steven Grimes told jurors Monday that the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. He said that almost everything prosecuting attorneys argued was based on the assumption that Dowling intended that $4.3 million go to Randazzo, a premise contradicted by the evidence.

Grimes said that the defense cherry-picked a series of events from years ago to paint a picture that Dowling conspired with Randazzo and Jones, but that the evidence presented did not show with certainty that is what happened.

“I’ve been fighting for Mike for a long time. And this is it. I’m done fighting. I get to turn it over to now,” he told jurors. “You guys are the safeguards. You’re the constitutional protection that Mike has. You’re what he’s got. And so when you go back there in your jury room, please demand the details. Don’t compromise. Listen. Respect your fellow jurors. Talk it out. But don’t accept these assumptions. Keep up the fight for Mike. Send him home.”

FirstEnergy admitted as part of a nonprosecution agreement in 2021 to underwriting the $60 million scheme in which former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder elected allies, secured power, passed the nuclear bailout bill and then defended it from a citizen referendum with the dirty-tricks campaign.

Householder was convicted of racketeering alongside lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges in 2023. Jurors sentenced Householder to 20 years for orchestrating the scheme and Borges got five. Two other political operatives also pleaded guilty to their roles and a dark money group admitted in court to serving as a conduit for the cash. A fourth Householder associate charged in the scheme, powerful Statehouse lobbyist Neil Clark, died by suicide in 2021.

Randazzo took his own life in 2024 after pleading not guilty to a litany of state and federal charges. Some of the gritty details that have taken place in the case over the past five years were not shared with jurors in Akron, where Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross has overseen the Jones and Dowling case for six weeks.

Defense attorney Carole Rendon, for former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, delivers her closing arguments from the podium in Jones' trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross's courtroom in Akron on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal via AP, Pool)

Ex-FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Michael Dowling listens to defense attorney Carole Rendon (not pictured) deliver her closing arguments in former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross's courtroom in Akron on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Carole Rendon, for former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones, delivers her closing arguments in Jones' trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross's courtroom in Akron on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal via AP, Pool)

Ex-FirstEnergy Senior Vice President Michael Dowling listens to defense attorney Dan Webb during the closing arguments in former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones' trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross's courtroom in Akron on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Rachael Israel talks chats with former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones before the start of closing arguments in his trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross's courtroom in Akron on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal via AP, Pool)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow aimed at further weakening the Islamic Republic’s leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades. Iran, which confirmed the killing of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, fired salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.

The Iranian judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, quoted the Revolutionary Guard as confirming the killing of Soleimani.

Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule.

Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days as the war showed no signs of abating.

With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, an Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.

President Donald Trump said NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the strait.

The Israeli military said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, who began firing rockets into the northern Israel after the joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran last month.

Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role “coordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.

Soleimani was also sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in suppressing dissent for years through the Basij.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that it struck more than 10 Basij posts across Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at “undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.” There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the U.S. and Israeli strikes.

The reported killings of Larijani and Soleimani came on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire, shortly before the Persian new year. Authorities have sent threatening text messages telling the public not to celebrate the festival, warning the rowdy celebrations could be used by “rioters.”

State media aired footage Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of men in plainclothes brandishing assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — signaling the government's intent of preventing protests against the theocracy.

State television later showed crowds of women wrapped in black and older men waving flags and portraits of the late Khamenei.

In Iraq, two drones were shot down by the U.S. Embassy's defense system in Baghdad, while a third drone crashed inside the compound, according to two Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.

An Associated Press journalist saw a massive fire that appeared to be engulfing a structure in the compound. There was no immediate comment from the embassy.

In the United Arab Emirates, an oil facility in Fujairah was hit, and a man was killed in Abu Dhabi by debris from an intercepted missile — the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones, while air defenses could be heard targeting incoming fire over Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, is sparking concerns about tightening energy supplies — unnerving the world economy.

A handful of ships have crossed through the strait, and Iran has said the waterway technically remains open — just not for the United States, Israel and their allies. About 20 vessels have been struck.

With oil prices rising, Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to ensure ships can pass through the strait.

Trump fumed Tuesday that the U.S. is not getting support “despite the fact that almost every country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot” be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.

The European Union’s top diplomat says the 27-nation bloc does not want to be dragged into the conflict with Iran. “This is not Europe’s war,” Kaja Kallas told EU lawmakers. “We were not consulted.”

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier reaffirmed that France is ready to help secure the strait, but only after heavy bombing has stopped.

The Israeli military said it hit Iran command centers, missile launch sites and air defense systems. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, where little information has been coming out due to internet outages, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.

The Lebanese army said that three soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that an airstrike near Beirut’s international airport killed one person and wounded nine, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says 912 people have been killed. In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

A top U.S. counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday, citing concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.

His resignation reflects unease about the war within Trump’s political base just as midterm election races start to heat up. Trump’s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president’s failure to keep his “America First” campaign promise by leading the U.S. into a war that is driving up gas prices.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said that he always thought Kent — the president’s pick to lead the counterterrorism center — was “weak on security” and that if someone in his government did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”

Rising reported from Bangkok, Corder from The Hague, Netherlands, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)

FILE - Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran's National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

FILE -Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

FILE - Commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

A view of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike, in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

U.S. Embassy is seen across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Fire and plumes of smoke rises after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo)

Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)