![Former Ohio House Speaker denies dinners with energy execs during corruption trial](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/03/ohio_speaker.jpg)
Former Ohio House Speaker denies dinners with energy execs during corruption trial
Fox News
Former Republican Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, contradicting FBI testimony, denied hosting dinners with executives where a bribery scheme was allegedly conceived.
The trial is in its fifth week before a jury and U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black in Cincinnati.
Householder and Matt Borges, 50, a lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chair, have been charged with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering. Federal prosecutors allege Householder controlled a scheme, secretly funded by FirstEnergy, to elect allies, win the speakership, pass a $1 billion nuclear plant bailout and that Borges sought to bribe an operative for inside information on the referendum to overturn it. Both have pleaded not guilty and maintain their innocence. Each faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
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