"While FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries have not been named in the DOJ investigation, future criminal charges against FirstEnergy and its corporate service subsidiary, FirstEnergy Service Company, cannot be ruled out in light of pay-to-play allegations contained in the affidavit," Fitch said. "If FirstEnergy or FirstEnergy Service Company become targets of the criminal investigation and are ultimately convicted, FirstEnergy could be subject to fines and penalties, civil litigation and resulting financial pressure, reputational risk, regulatory and political challenges, higher cost of capital and erosion of confidence in management and the effectiveness of its corporate governance and internal controls."