COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is appealing his 20-year prison sentence and a court’s decision to convict him, according to court documents.
Householder’s attorneys filed an appeal Monday with the Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit District. In the nearly 100-page appeal, attorneys wrote that Householder was tried "as a scapegoat.”
The appeal states that the government did not charge, and still has not charged, any of the corporate executives who allegedly bribed Householder. His attorneys, Steven Bradley and Nick Oleski, also wrote that the government did not call these alleged bribers as witnesses at trial.
Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, were both convicted in March 2023 of a single racketeering charge each, after a six-week trial.
Jurors found that Householder orchestrated and Borges participated in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass legislation containing a $1 billion bailout for two aging nuclear power plants owned by a FirstEnergy affiliate and then to use a dirty tricks campaign to stifle a ballot effort to overturn the bill.
Householder was sentenced on June 29, 2023, to 20 years in prison. Borges, 51, was sentenced to five years, which he is serving at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan, near Ann Arbor, bureau records show.
Householder appealed his 20-year sentence in July 2023, nearly two weeks after he was sentenced to the maximum penalty for racketeering allowed under federal law.
He was moved a month later from the Butler County Jail to the federal transfer center in Oklahoma City, according to Bureau of Prisons records. Bradley said Householder was not granted a request to be released during his appeal of the sentence.
In the appeal’s conclusion, attorneys wrote, “The Court should reverse and remand for a new trial before a different federal district court judge. The Court should reverse Householder’s conviction and either remand for a new trial or with instruction to enter a judgment of acquittal. Alternatively, the court should vacate Householder’s sentence and remand for resentencing.”