COLUMBUS — Representatives of a dark money group that the FBI said collected millions of dollars used to bribe former Speaker Larry Householder signed a guilty plea today for its role in a massive federal racketeering investigation.

Prosecutors say the group, Generation Now, received tens of millions of dollars that Householder and others used to pay bribes and pass a nuclear bailout law, House Bill 6. Generation Now was established as a nonprofit or ostensibly as a social welfare entity, which allowed it to avoid disclosing donors. 

The following is a statement from Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio:

“Ohioans deserve a transparent and accountable government, but today we saw the third guilty plea since the FBI indicted Larry Householder and four of his allies. While the extent of the bribery scheme is not known, it is clear that House Bill 6 resulted from corruption and must be repealed. It’s also clear that Ohio must ban the kind of dark money used to facilitate this scheme. Transparency is closely tied to accountability and it is time for the Ohio General Assembly to shine a light on dark money in politics so that secret money is never used again to take advantage of consumers.’’