Former FirstEnergy CEO Charles "Chuck" Jones and lobbyist Michael Dowling face similar charges in Summit County Common Pleas Court, where Akron is located. All three pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors now allege that the three were involved in plans similar to the pay-to-play scheme that resulted in the dramatic ouster of the former Speaker of the Ohio House House of Representatives, who in 2019 arranged a state bailout for the struggling plants after receiving bribes arranged by FirstEnergy and friendly intermediaries. One earlier scheme, prosecutors said, involved a 2008 lawsuit by several large Ohio electric customers against North Carolina-based Duke Energy. That lawsuit alleged that two members of the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio (IEU-Ohio) trade group, then legally represented by Randazzo, benefited from a secret side deal.