"FirstEnergy Fires CEO Jones in Wake of Ohio Bribery Scandal"

"FirstEnergy Corp. fired Chief Executive Officer Charles Jones and two other senior executives after a board review set up in the wake of a federal corruption scandal found they violated the company’s policies and its code of conduct.

The Akron, Ohio-based utility appointed President Steven Strah acting CEO, effective immediately, according to a statement late Thursday. FirstEnergy’s senior vice president of product development, marketing, and branding and its senior vice president of external affairs were also fired.

FirstEnergy’s shares fell 5.7% at 3:08 p.m. in New York.

The firings are the company’s strongest move yet in response to an alleged conspiracy involving a former unit, Energy Harbor Corp. In July, federal officials arrested the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four political associates were indicted on federal racketeering charges involving almost $61 million in bribes tied to a more than $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants owned by Energy Harbor. Two of the associates, including a lobbyist for a FirstEnergy subsidiary, pleaded guilty Thursday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the southern district of Ohio."

Brian Eckhouse and Mark Chediak report for Bloomberg Environment October 30, 2020.

SEE ALSO:

"FirstEnergy Fights Against Disclosing More Details About Alleged HB 6 Bribery Cases" (Midwest Energy News)

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 11/02/2020