BUSTED
Who is Larry Householder and why was he arrested for $60 million in a bribery case?
OHIO Speaker of the House Larry Householder was arrested Tuesday morning in connection with a $60million bribery case.
Householder, along with four others, has been being investigated by the FBI for nearly two years.
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Here is more about the arrest of Householder and the unfolding of events.
Who is Larry Householder?
Larry Householder, 61, is the state representative for Ohio's 72nd District.
He is the two-time and current Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and is a member of the Republican Party.
The district Householder is responsible for includes Coshocton and Perry counties, as well as about half of Licking County.
Why was he arrested for $60 million in a bribery case?
Householder was arrested for suspected “public corruption racketeering conspiracy.”
However, US Attorney David DeVillers' office would not discuss details of the case as it is still an ongoing investigation.
DeVillers has scheduled a 2:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the case publicly since the arrest.
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Who else was arrested?
Four other men were arrested in connection to the alleged crimes: Neil Clark, former Ohio Republican Party chair and consultant Matthew Borges, Juan Cespedes, and Jeffrey Longstreth, adviser to Householder.
The arrests are the result of a nearly two-year FBI investigation that included undercover federal agents who met with Householder and Clark, a source close to the investigation
During those meetings, the source said, the two men made incriminating statements.
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Has Householder been investigated before?
Householder first served as Ohio's House speaker from 2001 to 2004.
At the time, the FBI launched an investigation in 2004 into allegations that Householder and his aides took kickbacks from vendors and traded legislation for campaign contributions.
The investigation ended in 2006 with no charges filed.
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A term-limited Householder left Columbus in 2004 during the investigation.
After returning to the House a few years ago, Householder staged a comeback, with help from Democrats, when he took advantage of GOP infighting and returned to the speaker's post.
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The federal investigation, the amount of money involved and the arrests made on Tuesday make this one of the largest public corruption cases in Ohio in years.
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