The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the appeal of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and ex-lobbyist Matt Borges, upholding their federal racketeering convictions in a $60 million bribery scheme. The ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May, which rejected their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges.
Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. The scheme involved electing allies, securing power, passing a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants, and defending the bill, known as House Bill 6, from repeal efforts. Borges, 53, received a five-year sentence for helping undermine the repeal effort. A former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, Borges was released to a halfway house in Cincinnati in October and is scheduled for full release on Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
The Department of Justice secured the convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial. The FBI's investigation included undercover agents, a political consultant wearing a wire, and hours of secretly recorded videos. The crime was featured in an HBO documentary about the dangers of dark money. Two other defendants, FirstEnergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes and Householder political consultant Jeff Longstreth, pleaded guilty and await sentencing. The fifth defendant, superlobbyist Neil Clark, died by suicide in March 2021.
In October 2025, Householder and Borges appealed their convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Householder hadn't engaged in an explicit quid pro quo agreement with FirstEnergy and that jury instructions were confusing. The Supreme Court's decision to deny their appeal effectively ends the legal saga that began six years ago.