Form 8-K - Current report

0001031296false00010312962024-07-212024-07-21

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D. C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): July 21, 2024

Commission

Registrant; State of Incorporation;

I.R.S. Employer

File Number

Address; and Telephone Number

Identification No.

333-21011

FIRSTENERGY CORP

34-1843785

(An

Ohio

Corporation)

76 South Main Street

Akron

OH

44308

Telephone

(800)

736-3402

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

☐ Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

☐ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

☐ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

☐ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class

Trading Symbol(s)

Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.10 par value per share

FE

New York Stock Exchange

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (17 CFR §230.405) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (17 CFR §240.12b-2).

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

---

Item 7.01    Regulation FD Disclosure.

As previously disclosed, on July 21, 2021, FirstEnergy Corp. (“FirstEnergy” or the “Company”) entered into a three-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio (the “USAO”) regarding the USAO’s ongoing investigation surrounding Ohio House Bill 6 (“HB 6”) involving the now former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and other individuals and entities allegedly affiliated with Mr. Householder. Under the DPA, the Company agreed to the filing of a criminal information charging the Company with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. The DPA required that FirstEnergy, among other obligations: (i) continue to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in all matters relating to the conduct described in the DPA and other conduct under investigation by the U.S. government; (ii) pay a criminal monetary penalty totaling $230 million within sixty days of the filing of the DPA, which consisted of (x) $115 million paid by FirstEnergy to the United States Treasury and (y) $115 million paid by FirstEnergy to the Ohio Development Service Agency (“ODSA”) to fund certain assistance programs, as determined by the ODSA, for the benefit of low-income Ohio electric utility customers; (iii) publish a list of all payments made in 2021 to either 501(c)(4) entities or to entities known by FirstEnergy to be operating for the benefit of a public official, either directly or indirectly, and update the same on a quarterly basis; (iv) issue a public statement, as dictated in the DPA, regarding FirstEnergy’s use of 501(c)(4) entities; (v) continue to implement and review its compliance and ethics program, internal controls, policies and procedures designed, implemented and enforced to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. laws throughout its operations, and to take certain related remedial measures; and (vi) notify the USAO of any changes in its corporate form. The $230 million payment, which was paid in the third quarter of 2021, was neither to be recovered in rates or charged to FirstEnergy customers, nor will FirstEnergy seek any tax deduction related to such payment.

On July 21, 2024, the USAO filed a status report on the DPA with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (the “Status Report”). In the Status Report the USAO acknowledges that FirstEnergy has successfully completed those certain required DPA obligations with a three-year term. As an example, the USAO credited FirstEnergy with undertaking remedial measures and implementing a compliance and ethics program designed to detect and prevent violations of U.S. law as required by the DPA. As such, FirstEnergy’s reporting obligations set forth in Attachment C of the DPA and the obligations set forth in paragraphs 5 (B), (C) (E) and (F) of the DPA will end by August 21, 2024. FirstEnergy will continue to be bound by the remaining provisions in the DPA, including to (i) continue to cooperate with the USAO in its investigations and proceedings relating to the conduct set forth in the DPA’s Statement of Facts; (ii) publish a list of all payments made to either 501(c)(4) entities or to entities known by FirstEnergy to be operating for the benefit of a public official, either directly or indirectly on a quarterly basis; (iii) not make any statements that contradict FirstEnergy’s acceptance of responsibility; and (iv) notify the USAO of any changes in its corporate form. In accordance with the DPA, these obligations will continue until the completion of any related investigation, criminal prosecution, and civil proceeding brought by the USAO related to the conduct set forth in the DPA’s Statement of Facts, and within 30 days of those matters concluding and FirstEnergy’s successful completion of its related obligations, the USAO will dismiss the criminal information. The foregoing description of the Status Report is subject to, and qualified in their entirety by, the full text of the Status Report, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 99.1 hereto and incorporated herein by reference.

The information set forth in and incorporated by reference into this Item 7.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K is being furnished pursuant to Item 7.01 of Form 8-K and shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference into any of the Company’s filings under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, whether made before or after the date hereof and regardless of any general incorporation language in such filings, except to the extent expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing. The furnishing of this Item 7.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K shall not be deemed an admission as to the materiality of any information herein that is required to be disclosed solely by reason of Regulation FD.

Item 9.01    Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits
Exhibit No.						Description
99.1						Status Report, dated July 21, 2024, as filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio
104						Cover Page Interactive Data File (the cover page XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)

---

Forward-Looking Statements: Forward-Looking Statements: This Form 8-K includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms “anticipate,” “potential,” “expect,” "forecast," "target," "will," "intend," “believe,” "project," “estimate," "plan" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, which may include the following: the potential liabilities, increased costs and unanticipated developments resulting from government investigations and agreements, including those associated with compliance with or failure to comply with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered into July 21, 2021 with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio; the risks and uncertainties associated with government investigations and audits regarding Ohio House Bill 6, as passed by Ohio’s 133rd General Assembly (“HB 6”) and related matters, including potential adverse impacts on federal or state regulatory matters, including, but not limited to, matters relating to rates; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and similar proceedings, particularly regarding HB 6 related matters, including risks associated with obtaining dismissal of the derivative shareholder lawsuits; changes in national and regional economic conditions, including recession, volatile interest rates, inflationary pressure, supply chain disruptions, higher fuel costs, and workforce impacts, affecting us and/or our customers and those vendors with which we do business; variations in weather, such as mild seasonal weather variations and severe weather conditions (including events caused, or exacerbated, by climate change, such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, droughts, high wind events and extreme heat events) and other natural disasters affecting future operating results and associated regulatory actions or outcomes in response to such conditions; legislative and regulatory developments, including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, energy regulatory policies, compliance and enforcement activity, cyber security, and climate change; the risks associated with physical attacks, such as acts of war, terrorism, sabotage or other acts of violence, and cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our, or our vendors’, information technology system, which may compromise our operations, and data security breaches of sensitive data, intellectual property and proprietary or personally identifiable information; the ability to meet our goals relating to employee, environmental, social and corporate governance opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies, including our greenhouse gas (“GHG”) reduction goals; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits through establishing a culture of continuous improvement and our other strategic and financial goals, including, but not limited to, overcoming current uncertainties and challenges associated with the ongoing government investigations, executing Energize365, our transmission and distribution investment plan, executing on our rate filing strategy, controlling costs, improving credit metrics, maintaining investment grade ratings, and growing earnings; changing market conditions affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our pension trusts may negatively impact our forecasted growth rate, results of operations, and may also cause us to make contributions to our pension sooner or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated; mitigating exposure for remedial activities associated with retired and formerly owned electric generation assets, including those sites impacted by the recently promulgated legacy coal combustion residual rules; changes to environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, rules recently finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) related to climate change; changes in customers’ demand for power, including, but not limited to, economic conditions, the impact of climate change, emerging technology, particularly with respect to electrification, energy storage and distributed sources of generation; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us, including the increasing number of financial institutions evaluating the impact of climate change on their investment decisions; future actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either our access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and liquidity; changes in assumptions regarding factors such as economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our transmission and distribution system, generation resource planning, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and distribution investment opportunities; the potential of non-compliance with debt covenants in our credit facilities; the ability to comply with applicable reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; human capital management challenges, including among other things, attracting and retaining appropriately trained and qualified employees and labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings.

Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.’s common stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.’s Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.

These forward-looking statements are also qualified by, and should be read together with, the risk factors included in FirstEnergy Corp.’s including FirstEnergy’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. The foregoing review of factors also should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy Corp.’s business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy Corp. expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein or in the information incorporated by reference as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

---

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

July 22, 2024

			FIRSTENERGY CORP.
			Registrant
By:			/s/ Jason J. Lisowski
			Jason J. Lisowski Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Exhibit 99.1

Case: 1:21-cr-00086-TSB Doc #: 11 Filed: 07/21/24 Page: 1 of 3 PAGEID #: 148

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. FIRSTENERGY CORP., Defendant.			: : : : : : : : : :			CASE NO. 1:21-CR-00086 JUDGE BLACK S T AT U S RE P O RT

On July 22, 2021, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio (“USAO-SDOH”) charged FirstEnergy Corp. by Information with Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Wire Fraud and entered a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) with FirstEnergy Corp. (Doc. 1, 3.) The DPA included a provision under which FirstEnergy Corp. was required to perform certain obligations for three years. (Doc. 3, PageID 60, 67.)1 The USAO-SDOH has determined that FirstEnergy Corp. has successfully completed those required obligations. For example, FirstEnergy Corp. has undertaken remedial measures and implemented a compliance and ethics program designed to detect and deter violations of U.S. law as required by the DPA. Consequently, FirstEnergy Corp.’s annual reporting obligations, as detailed in DPA Attachment C, and its obligations set forth in DPA paragraphs 5 (B), (C), (E), and (F), will end within 30 days of July 22, 2024. (See id.)

1 “Within thirty (30) days of the successful completion of the Term, FirstEnergy’s obligations pursuant to paragraphs 5 (B), (C) (E) and (F) will end. FirstEnergy’s remaining obligations under paragraph 5 will continue until the completion of any investigation, criminal prosecution, or civil proceeding brought by the USAO-SDOH related to any conduct set forth in the Statement of Facts.” (Id. at PageID 67.)

---

Case: 1:21-cr-00086-TSB Doc #: 11 Filed: 07/21/24 Page: 2 of 3 PAGEID #: 149

FirstEnergy Corp. will continue to be bound by the remaining provisions in the DPA. Those ongoing and continuing obligations consist of continuing cooperation until the completion of any investigation, criminal prosecution, or civil proceeding brought by the USAO-SDOH related to the conduct set forth in the DPA’s Statement of Facts, under paragraph 5(A), and the obligations listed in 5(D) (Transparency in Corporate Contributions), 5(G) (Public Statements by the Company), and 5(H) (Changes in Corporate Form). (Id. at PageID 67.) The USAO-SDOH intends to file another status report to the Court regarding the continuing obligations in the DPA by February 1, 2025.

Respectfully submitted,

KENNETH L. PARKER

United States Attorney

s/Emily N. Glatfelter

EMILY N. GLATFELTER (0075576) MATTHEW C. SINGER (IL 6297632)

Assistant United States Attorneys 221 East Fourth Street, Suite 400

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Office: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail] Email: [e-mail]

---

Case: 1:21-cr-00086-TSB Doc #: 11 Filed: 07/21/24 Page: 3 of 3 PAGEID #: 149

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing Status Report was served electronically upon counsel of record.

s/Emily N. Glatfelter

EMILY N. GLATFELTER (0075576)

Assistant United States Attorney

Cover Page	Jul. 21, 2024
Cover [Abstract]
Document Type	8-K
Document Period End Date	Jul. 21, 2024
Entity File Number	333-21011
Entity Registrant Name	FIRSTENERGY CORP
Entity Tax Identification Number	34-1843785
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	OH
Entity Address, Address Line One	76 South Main Street
Entity Address, City or Town	Akron
Entity Address, State or Province	OH
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	44308
City Area Code	(800)
Local Phone Number	736-3402
Written Communications	false
Soliciting Material	false
Pre-commencement Tender Offer	false
Pre-commencement Issuer Tender Offer	false
Title of 12(b) Security	Common Stock, $0.10 par value per share
Trading Symbol	FE
Security Exchange Name	NYSE
Entity Emerging Growth Company	false
Entity Central Index Key	0001031296
Amendment Flag	false
Document Information [Line Items]
Document Type	8-K

---