The Nuclear Bailout

A state legislator who wanted to become speaker of his state's House of Representatives used a political nonprofit to gather money. An electric utility with failing nuclear plants paid roughly $60 million into it, and the money helped fund his political operation and his rise to the speakership. Once in charge, he pushed through a $1.3 billion bailout for the utility's nuclear plants. When citizens launched a referendum to repeal the law, the utility paid tens of millions more to defeat it. Prosecutors said the payments were bribes and charged a racketeering conspiracy. The defence argued the money was protected political spending and that, without unambiguous evidence of an explicit corrupt agreement, ordinary politics had been turned into a crime.