An attorney who served as chief ethics officer and oversaw state and federal legal matters at FirstEnergy took the witness stand Feb. 12 in the state criminal trial of two former FirstEnergy executives.
Ebony Yeboah-Amankwah testified she has an agreement that if she testifies truthfully in the ongoing criminal trial of Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling, her truthful testimony will not be used against her.
Yeboah-Amankwah said that at the end of 2018, when she was FirstEnergy’s chief ethics officer, she remembers discussion among company leaders about whether FirstEnergy should pay Sam Randazzo $4,333,333.
Prosecutors said in opening statements last week that ex-FirstEnergy CEO Jones and former Senior Vice President Dowling pushed for the company to make the payment as a bribe for favorable utility regulations from Randazzo ahead of him becoming Ohio’s top utility regulator.
FirstEnergy paid Randazzo the roughly $4.3 million in early January 2019.
Jones’ and Dowling’s attorneys said in their opening statements that the payment marked the termination of a settlement with Industrial Energy Users of Ohio, a trade group that Randazzo represented as an attorney before he became chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Yeboah-Amankwah was “separated” from FirstEnergy in 2020, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She said Feb. 12 that she has since moved on to another job at a separate company.
In December 2018, though, Yeboah-Amankwah said she recalled that it was up to Jones on whether to pay the roughly $4.3 million to Randazzo.
She said she didn’t support the company making the payment because it didn’t appear that FirstEnergy would get the full value out of it.
Later, Yeboah-Amankwah said she communicated directly with Randazzo in her role.
Ohio Assistant Attorney General Matthew Meyer asked her if Randazzo would go over her head if she said something he didn’t like.
She said it was a “fairly regular” occurrence.
Compared to herself, Yeboah-Amankwah said, Dowling “had a better relationship with Mr. Randazzo.”
Yeboah-Amankwah’s testimony is scheduled to continue on Feb. 13.
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ex-FirstEnergy executive granted immunity to testify as state witness
Reporting by Patrick Williams, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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