In The News 9 October 2025

Former GOP Chair Matt Borges released from prison; moved to halfway house

Former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party Matt Borges, who was convicted for his role in the $60 million bribery scheme involving FirstEnergy and Ohio House Bill 6, has been released from prison after serving less than half of his five-year sentence.

As first reported by Jeremy Pelzer of 3News media partner Cleveland.com, Borges was transferred this week from a minimum-security federal prison camp in Morgantown, W.Va. to a halfway house in Cincinnati. According to a letter to his wife, Kate, that was posted on her blog, Borges says he will spend from now until Oct. 3, 2026 at a halfway house or in home confinement. He will follow that with one year of supervised probation.

In 2019, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder took $61 million in bribes in exchange for legislation to give FirstEnergy a $1 billion bailout, named House Bill 6, co-sponsored by then-Rep. (now state Senator) Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, and Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord.

The scheme was revealed in three main ways – two separate whistleblowers and a phone wiretap. In March 2023, a jury found Householder and Borges guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for their involvement in the racketeering scheme that left four men guilty and two others dead by suicide.

In late June 2023, federal judge Timothy Black sentenced Householder to 20 years in prison. Borges got five years. The two surviving defendants took plea agreements early on, helping the FBI.

The scandal not only imprisoned Householder for 20 years but also led to two suicides – including that of indicted lobbyist Neil Clark and Sam Randazzo. Randazzo, who was Gov. Mike DeWine’s pick to chair the Public Utilities Commission, helped write and lobby for the bailout even though he was supposed to be a neutral regulator. 

FirstEnergy later said it paid a $4.3 million bribe to Randazzo, who died by suicide in April 2024.

House Bill 6 mainly benefited FirstEnergy's nuclear power plants, but those provisions were later repealed. There are aspects of the bill still in place.

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