Lobbyist named in $60M Ohio bribery probe found dead
Jay LaPrete/AP
In this May 27, 2004 file photo Paul Tipps, left, and Neil Clark, pose in their office in Columbus, Ohio. Clark, a longtime Ohio lobbyist, who had pleaded not guilty in a sweeping federal bribery investigation, was found dead, Monday, March 15, 2021. Clark had pleaded not guilty in August over an alleged role in a $60 million scheme to funnel money from FirstEnergy companies through a network of dark money entities to then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder in exchange for the passage of a $1 billion nuclear bailout bill. He parlayed his Senate work initially into a powerhouse bipartisan lobbying partnership with the late Tipps, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
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Former U.S. Attorney David DeVillers mentioned Clark’s death during a presentation Tuesday. The Naples, Fla. medical examiner says they are conducting an autopsy on the 67-year-old Clark, following a sheriff s office report of a man found dead with a head wound and a gun on the premises.
Reports say a cyclist found Clark s body in a wooded area in a neighborhood called the Golden Gate district near the border of Collier and Logan counties. Clark was known to have a residence in Naples.
The Naples-area medical examiner says the full autopsy report will be made available to law enforcement once completed.
(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) A powerful Ohio lobbyist who spent decades at the center of many of the state s significant policy battles was found dead in Florida as he faced charges in a sweeping federal bribery investigation, authorities said Tuesday. Neil Clark, 67, was found dead Monday by a bicyclist in an isolated area of Collier County, Florida, where he had been living, authorities said.
The local sheriff s office provided a report describing the body being found, and the county medical examiner confirmed the body was Clark s. The cause of death wasn t determined, but a medical investigation and an autopsy were being performed. When officials reached out to the man s wife, she said that the couple was having financial issues and that she had not heard from her husband for a couple of hours, according to the sheriff s report.
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Two employees of the billionaire activist’s firm, Jesse Lynn and Andrew Teno, will join FirstEnergy’s board and serve on committees focused on helping the company improve its compliance and settle litigation, the company said Tuesday. The agreement, which was reported earlier Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal, would expand the board to 14 directors.
Icahn, who hasn’t disclosed his stake size, controls well over 3% of the company’s shares, according to people familiar with the matter. That makes him one of its top five holders with a stake worth over $600 million.
FirstEnergy, based in Akron, Ohio, provides electricity to about six million customers in a handful of states including Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It has a market value of more than $19 billion. Last year, the company’s stock sank and it fired several high-ranking executives following an internal review related to government investigations of its potential role in an alleged state-briber
The Associated Press
In this May 27, 2004 file photo Paul Tipps, left, and Neil Clark, pose in their office in Columbus, Ohio. Clark, a longtime Ohio lobbyist who had pleaded not guilty in a sweeping federal bribery investigation, died Tuesday, March 16, 2021, a former U.S. attorney said. Clark had pleaded not guilty in August over an alleged role in a $60 million scheme to funnel money from FirstEnergy companies through a network of dark money entities to then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder in exchange for the passage of a $1 billion nuclear bailout bill. He parlayed his Senate work initially into a powerhouse bipartisan lobbying partnership with the late Tipps, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)