Ohio Justices Freeze Assets of Allegedly Bribed Energy Regulator

An allegedly bribed energy regulator’s assets must stay frozen while litigation proceeds over whether more than $4 million in payments from FirstEnergy Corp. violated state anti-corruption laws, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.

The court’s Thursday order blocks a state appeals court ruling undoing Attorney General Dave Yost’s (R) prejudgment attachment—a tool creditors can use to stop the transfer of property ahead of a civil judgment—against the assets of former Public Utility Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo. FirstEnergy admitted to bribing Randazzo by paying him for preferential treatment on regulatory matters.

Without the high court’s intervention, the attorney general’s office ...