Two leading Ohio Republicans found guilty in $60m bribery scheme

The former Ohio state House speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican party chair Matt Borges were convicted Thursday in a $60m bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.

A jury in Cincinnati found the two guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering, after more than nine hours of deliberations over two days.

Attorneys for Householder and Borges did not immediately respond to messages left by the Associated Press on Thursday.

He took the stand in his own defense, contradicting FBI testimony and denying that he attended swanky Washington dinners where prosecutors allege he and executives of FirstEnergy hatched the elaborate scheme in 2017.

The verdict comes two-and-a-half years after Householder, Borges and three others were arrested in what prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in Ohio history.

Over the past seven weeks, jurors at the trial were presented with firsthand accounts of the alleged scheme, as well as reams of financial documents, emails, texts and wire-tap audio.

Householder testified that he never retaliated against those who voted counter to his wishes or who donated to his rivals.

Randazzo resigned as chair of the public utilities commission of Ohio after an FBI search of his home, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.