Former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges is accused of paying $15,000 to spy on efforts to repeal corrupt utility bailouts.

Both Borges and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder have been charged with conspiring to save nuclear power plants formerly owned by FirstEnergy.

CINCINNATI — A lobbyist with ties to leading Ohio Republicans paid $15,000 in 2019 for insider information about a campaign to eliminate $1.3 billion in utility subsidies that were later found to be corrupt, according to an FBI agent Monday.

The agent also said Secretary of State Frank LaRose wanted to meet with executives from Akron-based FirstEnergy Solutions — the company that funded most of the scheme — while Attorney General Dave Yost was outraged by the heavy-handed tactics used by opponents of the repeal.

It was the seventh day of testimony in the racketeering case against former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former state GOP chairman Matt Borges, who lobbied to pass and defend House Bill 6 on utility subsidies. FirstEnergy and other utilities must elect a homeowner speaker, pass HB 6, and thwart efforts to repeal the bill.

Two co-defendants pleaded guilty and another committed suicide. FirstEnergy signed a deferred prosecution agreement in which it admitted many of its wrongdoings.

When HB 6 was passed in July 2019, Governor Mike DeWine signed it on the same day. But Householder and FirstEnergy didn’t have time to celebrate. Opponents of the law quickly moved into action, collecting petitions to cancel the November vote.

In response, FirstEnergy poured millions more into dark money groups to stop the repeal efforts. This was followed by a series of xenophobic commercials designed to stir up unfounded fears of China.

“They took our manufacturing jobs,” said a TV ad that aired in August 2019. “They closed our factories. Now they’re coming for our energy jobs. The Chinese government is stealthily encroaching on our American electricity grid, financially intertwining with our energy infrastructure. Ohio energy, taking Ohio money, exporting jobs from Ohio, even risking our national security. They are interfering in our elections.”

Advertisers have never provided evidence to support their claims.

HB 6’s staunchest supporters weren’t just trying to scare Ohioans into keeping the bailout. Borges also gave a check for $15,000 to a man who was supposed to help collect signatures for the cancellation, FBI Special Agent Blaine Wetzel testified.

Advanced Micro Targeting employee Tyler Furman complained to Borges about the financial difficulties associated with his divorce. In text messages obtained by the FBI, Borges and Juan Cespedes — the co-defendant who pleaded guilty — discussed insider information from Ferman, such as the number of signatures collected from the repeal efforts and where the faucets focused their work.

In a conversation between Borges and Ferman recorded on September 10, 2019, Borges appeared to admit that what he was doing was wrong.

“I’m nervous as hell,” Ferman said.

Borges replied: “You wrote to me (that) your personal integrity is not for sale. You’re not trying to set me up, are you?”

Borges later said: “It would be bad for both of us if the story came out. But it would be worse for you.”

In a follow-up conversation on October 21, 2019, Ferman told Borges that he was nervous because the reporter was asking if someone who was working on the petition campaign had been scammed. He said he was also worried about being questioned under oath.

Borges told him that the $15,000 he paid Ferman was unrelated to the information Ferman had provided. It was for other projects, Borges said.

“We have decided to put them on hold until this work is completed,” Borges said.

Ferman reported his arrangement with Borges to the FBI. Wetzel, the agent who testified on Monday, said Ferman was upset with Borges but did not explain why.

Explaining the meeting with Ferman, Wetzel said that opponents of the repeal campaign were regularly followed, so he needed to be careful that no one followed Ferman to meetings with the FBI.

As reported by Toledo Blade, stories of harassment and harassment of people who signed petitions to repeal have angered Attorney General Dave Yost. In earlier texts, Borges, Yost’s former campaign manager, said his old boss thought House Bill 6 was bad legislation but did not speak out against it because FirstEnergy gave Yost the money.

But Yost, who must approve the wording of any initiative before it is put to a vote, blew up on Borges when he heard about a woman being followed and harassed by people hired to block the repeal attempt.

Private investigators were also paid more than $100,000 to track down people involved in the petition, Wetzel said. In some cases, they went as far as attaching GPS devices to petition circulators’ vehicles, Wetzel said.

But while Yost was frustrated with the HB 6 campaign, another state official appeared to be suspicious.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose heads the Ohio Board of Elections, which must also review the wording of initiatives before they are put to a vote. In a text conversation in November 2019, Borges told Cespedes that LaRose wanted to meet with John Kiani, chairman of the board of directors of FirstEnergy Solutions, a FirstEnergy subsidiary that owned the decommissioned nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

Borges told LaRose, “Told me he wanted to meet Kiani, and I said, ‘Are you sure about that?’

Cespedes replied, “He’ll regret it.”

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