COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio's former top utility regulator Sam Randazzo was found dead Tuesday, less than two months after he pleaded not guilty to charges in connection to a $60 million bribery scheme.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Office confirmed that Randazzo, 74, was found dead inside a building in downtown Columbus just before noon. Randazzo's death is being treated by the coroner's office as a suspected suicide.
Randazzo was indicted by a Summit County grand jury on Feb. 9, alongside Former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and Senior Vice President Michael Dowling, on a combined 27 criminal counts. The charges include bribery, theft, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, tampering with records and money laundering.
Randazzo resigned in November 2020 after FBI agents searched his Columbus townhome and FirstEnergy revealed in security filings that it had paid him $4.3 million for his future help at the commission a month before Gov. Mike DeWine nominated him as Ohio’s top utility regulator.
The indictments were the latest development in what has been labeled the largest corruption case in Ohio history. Former House Speaker Larry Householder was convicted of racketeering last year and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for masterminding the scheme. A lobbyist and former state Republican chairman, Matt Borges, got five years for his role. Both men have appealed.
Another man named in the bribery scheme, lobbyist Neil Clark, pleaded not guilty to a federal racketeering charge before dying by suicide in connection to the scheme.