Republican Larry Householder, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a major racketeering conspiracy that rocked the Buckeye State.
The punishment, meted out by U.S. district judge Timothy Black, is the maximum penalty allowed under the law.
“The court and the community’s patience with Larry Householder has expired,” the judge said in issuing the sentence on June 29.
Householder, 64, and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matthew Borges, 50, were convicted in March—each on a single racketeering charge—after a six-week trial.
The jury found that Householder organized and Borges participated in a $60 million bribery scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to establish Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass a $1 billion bailout for a FirstEnergy affiliate’s aging nuclear plants, and then thwart a ballot effort to overturn the bill….
great article