"FirstEnergy Corp. fired Chief Executive Officer Charles Jones and two other senior executives after a board review set up in the wake of a federal corruption scandal found they violated the company’s policies and its code of conduct.

The Akron, Ohio-based utility appointed President Steven Strah acting CEO, effective immediately, according to a statement late Thursday. FirstEnergy’s senior vice president of product development, marketing, and branding and its senior vice president of external affairs were also fired.

FirstEnergy’s shares fell 5.7% at 3:08 p.m. in New York.

The firings are the company’s strongest move yet in response to an alleged conspiracy involving a former unit, Energy Harbor Corp. In July, federal officials arrested the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four political associates were indicted on federal racketeering charges involving almost $61 million in bribes tied to a more than $1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants owned by Energy Harbor. Two of the associates, including a lobbyist for a FirstEnergy subsidiary, pleaded guilty Thursday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the southern district of Ohio."

Brian Eckhouse and Mark Chediak report for Bloomberg Environment October 30, 2020. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"FirstEnergy Fights Against Disclosing More Details About Alleged HB 6 Bribery Cases" (Midwest Energy News) [3]