American Electric Power pays $19M to settle with SEC over its HB6 entanglement
Securities regulators accused company of lying to investors about its involvement in FirstEnergy's pay-for-play scandal.
FILE - This April 29, 2004, file photo, shows the American Electric Power corporate headquarters building in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon, File)AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to enter a $19 million settlement with American Electric Power last week after regulators accused the company of misleading investors about its involvement in a criminal pay-for-play scandal.
The FBI and Department of Justice investigations into the passage of House Bill 6 in 2019 revolve around bribes totaling about $64 million in personal and political benefits that FirstEnergy, an Akron-based peer utility of AEP’s, admits it paid to two high level public officials to help secure the bill’s passage. The legislation provided more than $1.3 billion in value to FirstEnergy via a bailout of its cash-bleeding nuclear plants and other policy perks.
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