Ohio can freeze ex-top utility regulator’s $8 million in assets, high court says
The Ohio Supreme Court has reinstated a judge's order allowing the state to freeze $8 million in personal assets belonging to a former top Ohio utility regulator
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The legal dispute over whether it was appropriate to freeze $8 million in personal assets belonging to a former top Ohio utility regulator caught up in a federal bribery investigation has ping-ponged once again.
In a ruling Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court reversed the Tenth District Court of Appeals' decision and reinstated a lower court’s order, allowing Sam Randazzo’s assets to be frozen once again. The high court determined the appeals court erred on a technicality when it unfroze Randazzo’s property.
It's just the latest development in the yearslong fight over property belonging to Randazzo, a one-time chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Federal prosecutors last month charged Randazzo with 11 counts in connection with an admission by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. that it paid him a $4.3 million bribe in exchange for favorable treatment. Randazzo has pleaded not guilty.
Writing for the majority, Justice Pat DeWine said the three-judge panel was wrong when it unfroze Randazzo's assets in December 2022 — a decision that had been on hold amid the ongoing litigation. The panel reversed a lower court, finding that the state had not proven it would suffer “irreparable injury” if Randazzo were given control of his property.
