Former Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy made millions selling his stock as a political scandal rocked the energy company, according to a federal court lawsuit.
First reported by the Orlando Sentinel, the lawsuit alleges that current and former officers and board members of NextEra Energy, Inc., the parent company of Florida Power & Light, violated federal securities laws by making “materially false and misleading statements” related to the company’s political spending.
The suit was filed in the Southern District of Florida by two investors, Sara Lewis and James Lewis. The suit, filed in October, focuses on Silagy selling more than 62,000 shares of the company’s stock in December 2021, making $5.4 million on the deal.
The investors bought stock in NextEra Energy between Dec. 2, 2021, the day that Silagy sold his stock, and Jan 30, 2023, shortly after NextEra announced Silagy’s departure from the company.
Court documents accuse Silagy, NextEra and its board of exposing NextEra to “substantial monetary and reputational damage” for orchestrating a scheme to fund ghost candidates to derail the political campaigns of “unfriendly legislators,” spying on journalists and improperly courting public officials to benefit FPL.
The company, the lawsuit claims, breached its duties by not disclosing legal and reputational risk tied to FPL; not maintaining adequate internal controls; and making positive statements about the business that were “materially misleading.”
In August 2022, the Miami Herald reported that Silagy was secretly running the Capitolist, a small news website that portrayed itself as a feisty independent outlet. The Capitolist, aimed directly at Tallahassee decision makers, was bankrolled and controlled by executives of the power company through a small group of trusted intermediaries from an Alabama consulting firm, according to an investigation based on a massive leak of documents.
FPL’s political consultants also used a nonprofit to steer funding toward a no-party candidate in a 2018 state Senate race, the Miami Herald reported. That candidate helped split the liberal vote and swing the race in favor of the Republican candidate.
Five people have been criminally charged in connection to the ghost candidate scheme, including two of the ghost candidates. No one at FPL has been accused of wrongdoing by authorities and the company has said an internal review cleared its employees, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The company, according to the suit, falsely claimed that allegations of political misconduct didn’t expose it to meaningful legal or occupational risk. However, amid the scandal — and Silagy’s retirement — NextEra stock dropped by almost 9%.
Silagy, who led FPL for 11 years, stepped down in January.
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