This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline available 24/7. To reach the 24/7 Crisis Text Helpline, text 4HOPE to 741741.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio’s former top energy regulator, recently indicted as part of the state’s biggest corruption case in its history, was found dead Tuesday.
Columbus police found the body of Sam Randazzo, 74, at 11:45 a.m. at a warehouse near the 400 block of East Mound Street, according to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office. The agency stated that the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio died by suicide. Franklin County Auditor records confirmed that the building was owned by Sustainability Funding Alliance of Ohio, which has been labeled a shell company for Randazzo in court documents for state charges against him.
Randazzo was accused of taking a bribe from FirstEnergy, the company at the center of a 2019 scheme to pass a $1 billion bailout bill for its nuclear power plants. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former state Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges were both convicted in March 2023 of charges tied to their acceptance of a $61 million bribe to ensure its passage in the legislature.
Randazzo went years without facing charges in the case, but the FBI searched his home in November 2020. He resigned from PUCO days later.
The chairman was indicted first in December 2023 on federal charges including:
- One count of conspiring to commit travel act bribery and honest services wire fraud
- Two counts of travel act bribery
- Two counts of honest services wire fraud
- One count of wire fraud
- Five counts of making illegal monetary transactions
The state of Ohio then indicted him a second time in February alongside FirstEnergy’s ex-CEO Chuck Jones and ex-senior vice president of external affairs Michael Dowling. The group shared 27 different felony violations including bribery charges, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and money laundering, among others.
Documents from the state case detailed that Jones and Dowling paid Randazzo $4.3 million on Jan. 2, 2019, for his “consulting services,” to “write parts of a law that would send millions of dollars in subsidies to FirstEnergy.” That payment went out less than three months after the bailout bill went into effect on Oct. 22, 2019. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost requested the freeze of Randazzo’s assets in 2021 when FirstEnergy admitted it was a bribe for the chairman’s help in passing House Bill 6.
Randazzo is the second person tied to the case who died by apparent suicide. Lobbyist Neil Clark, one of the first people charged in the FirstEnergy bribery scandal, was found dead in March 2021 in Naples, Fla.
“Obviously, you know, our heart goes out to his family and just what comes to me is a sad story,” Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) said. “It’s really sad all the way around and this whole HB6 saga since 2019 when this bill was introduced has been sad.”
“Many of us felt very highly about Sam, that he was extraordinarily knowledgeable about utility issues and I don’t think anybody deserves this,” Rep. William J. Seitz III (R-Cincinnati) said. “It is a tragedy and it’s a real shame, that’s all I can say… The crushing leviathan of government got to him.”
The Ohio governor’s office, House and Senate leadership all declined to comment at this time.