Former Republican officials in both the state legislature of Ohio and the state GOP of that state were recently convicted by a jury of criminal acts in relation to a whopping tens of millions of dollars in bribes made available to the former state House Speaker and tens of thousands in bribe money that the former chairman of the Ohio GOP paid to another state Republican for private information.
The private information consisted of the number of signatures collected for a measure going on state ballots that would’ve undone a massive bailout provided for nuclear power operations — in connection to which the former House Speaker, Larry Householder, got the other bribe money in repeated payments. A press release from the Justice Department noted how Householder used that money for an array of personal expenses, like dealing with credit card debt and home repairs. The former official in the state Republican Party is an individual named Matthew Borges, and the department identified both individuals as facing eventually possible prison terms of evidently up to two decades apiece.
“As presented by the trial team, Larry Householder illegally sold the statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the great people of Ohio he was elected to serve,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker said. “Matt Borges was a willing co-conspirator, who paid bribe money for insider information to assist Householder. Through its verdict today, the jury reaffirmed that the illegal acts committed by both men will not be tolerated and that they should be held accountable.”
Parker is the U.S. prosecutor for the Southern District of Ohio, and both defendants were specifically accused of racketeering. The bribes provided to Householder in support of the nuclear plants totaled nearly $61 million. Funds were apparently given to a federally registered non-profit organization affiliated with Householder called Generation Now and stretched across several years. Borges apparently also got some of that bribe money, at least eventually, using hundreds of thousands worth for what prosecutors said was his own personal benefit.
