CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For about half a decade, federal prosecutors overseeing Ohio's largest bribery scandal in history left people wondering why they would charge those who accepted the bribes, but not the people accused of paying them.

Then on Friday, in one of his last days in office, U.S. Attorney Ken Parker asked to unseal criminal charges against FirstEnergy Corp.'s former CEO, Chuck Jones, and its former vice president, Mike Dowling. The two are accused of paying some $60 million in bribes to public officials in exchange for a $1.3 billion bailout of two aging nuclear plants.