Former Ohio congressman and two-time Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich announces his Independent candidacy for Congress in Ohio's 7th Congressional District, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Independence, Ohio. $5,000 a month for Bitcoin consulting from former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich, not long after Kucinich lost his 2018 gubernatorial primary, newly unearthed emails show.
As Cleveland’s mayor between 1977 to 1979, Kucinich waged a high-profile battle with banks over Cleveland Public Power and his unwillingness to sell the publicly owned utility to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company – now part of FirstEnergy.Through his attorney, Andrew Stebbins, he denied consulting for FirstEnergy on cryptocurrency or blockchain.
The new records came to light as part of a rolling release of records from the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, which obtained vast troves of records from the pre-trial evidence exchange process of a group of investors suing FirstEnergy in relation to the scandal. Dave Anderson, a researcher and advocacy journalist with the Energy and Policy Institute, first spotted the emails mentioning Kucinich amid the thousands of pages that have been released.
JoBob Inc. received nearly $1.5 million from FirstEnergy, according to the audit, which was spent on “consulting invoices” and “Block Chain Technology Invoices” between 2018 and 2020.