(The Center Square) – Ohio’s former House speaker and ex-leader of the state’s Republican Party will remain in prison after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld their convictions Tuesday.
Former Speaker Larry Householder received a maximum of 20 years in federal prison in June 2023 for his involvement in what federal prosecutors called the largest bribery scandal in state history.
Borges was sentenced to 60 months for his role in the racketeering conspiracy.
Both Householder and Borges argued before the appeals court that guilty pleas from coconspirators should not have been admitted at trial, and the appeals court disagreed.
Also, Household challenged the 20-year sentence, saying the court overstated the seriousness of his crimes and the sentence was unreasonable.
He also argued the district judge should have recused himself because Householder helped raise money for the judge’s 2000 Ohio Supreme Court campaign.
The former speaker also said he was prohibited from speaking with counsel during overnight recesses during the trial and argued that the court should not have admitted excerpts from recorded conversations with co-conspirator and lobbyist Neil Clark.
He also challenged money laundering and bribery convictions.
The court rejected each argument.
The two men were convicted in the bribery and racketeering scheme surrounding $61 million in bribes regarding House Bill 6, the state’s billion-dollar FirstEnergy nuclear power plant bailout.
Householder lost his speakership and was expelled from the House in June 2021.
As previously reported by The Center Square, FirstEnergy agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in their investigation, admitting it conspired with public officials, others and entities to pay millions of dollars to public officials in exchange for specific official action to help FirstEnergy.
Householder, along with four coconspirators, were charged in 2020. Also charged were Borges, Clark, the Oxley Group co-founder Juan Cespedes and strategist John Longstreth.
