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Forensic experts are working to recover texts deleted by ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones after he was fired

Forensic experts are working to recover texts deleted by ex-FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones after he was fired Cleveland.com : Jan. 28, 2022,  By Jeremy Pelzer,

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Forensic experts have been working to recover text messages deleted by former FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Chuck Jones in October 2020, shortly after the utility fired him for violating company ethics policies amid the House Bill 6 scandal, according to a recent civil lawsuit filing.

The filing was part of a submission made Thursday by attorneys representing FirstEnergy shareholders suing company officials for not stopping a massive bribery scheme to pass HB6. In addition, the filing says the content of the deleted messages remains unknown, and it did not disclose any recipients…………..

A federal complaint against ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and several allies accuses them of using $60 million in FirstEnergy bribe money to secure the passage of HB6. The complaint says that Jones and Householder emailed and texted each other several times a week about the issues with the legislation, which offered a $1 billion-plus bailout to two Northern Ohio nuclear power plants owned by a then-subsidiary of FirstEnergy………………….

Jones has so far not been accused of any crime, and he denies any wrongdoing. However, a civil lawsuit filed by Attorney General Dave Yost accuses him and two other former FirstEnergy executives of engaging in extortion, money laundering, coercion, intimidation and an attempted coverup.

Cleveland.com has reached out to a spokesman for Jones for comment.

Thursday’s court filing states that plaintiffs in the civil suit have reviewed more than 400,000 pages of documents so far and are preparing to start depositions on Feb. 10. The filing states that plaintiffs will be ready to go to trial by this August.

Read the full filing here:      https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/01/forensic-experts-are-working-to-recover-texts-deleted-by-ex-firstenergy-ceo-chuck-jones-after-he-was-fired.html

January 31, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA