Six FirstEnergy Board Members Won’t Seek Election After Scandal

Six board members of FirstEnergy Corp., a utility that was embroiled in a bribery scandal tied to nuclear subsidies, won’t seek re-election this year as part of a settlement to resolve shareholder lawsuits.

The agreement stipulates a series of corporate governance measures, including keeping six board members who have served for at least five years from seeking re-election at this year’s annual shareholder meeting, FirstEnergy said in a statement Thursday. The settlement is subject to court approval.

The agreement also includes a $180 million payment to FirstEnergy, less legal fees, to be paid by insurance.

FirstEnergy shares rose almost 1% in after-market trading Thursday.

FirstEnergy reached an agreement in mid-2021 with federal prosecutors over a corruption case involving a roughly $1 billion state bailout for nuclear power plants. Under that deferred-prosecution agreement, the company admitted it conspired with public officials and others to pay millions of dollars in bribes -- and agreed to pay $230 million, the largest criminal penalty ever imposed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

--With assistance from Mark Chediak.

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Doug Alexander

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