CINCINNATI — Federal prosecutors focused on information gathered from an FBI informant Monday as the trial continued for former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges. 

Monday's evidence centered around dozens of calls, texts and other communications between Borges and consultant-turned-FBI informant Tyler Fehrman, who contacted authorities after he felt Borges was pushing him to get insider information on the ballot initiative to overturn House Bill 6. 

Fehrman worked for a group hired by the Ohio Environmental Council to collect signatures for the referendum. In a secretly-recorded phone call, Borges asked Fehrman to gather information about how many signatures had been collected, telling him he didn't consider it spying.

Prosecutors said Borges later gave Fehrman a check for $15,000, which Fehrman accepted on the advice of the FBI.  

Other evidence included a text exchange between Borges and FirstEnergy lobbyist Juan Cespedes, regarding their efforts to get Ohio attorney general Dave Yost and secretary of state Frank LaRose to work favorably with them to keep HB6 from being put before voters. Borges told Cespedes that "Dave (Yost) let me have it with both barrels" and they should not expect Yost to help. 

Householder and Borges are accused in a multi-million dollar political corruption scheme surrounding House Bill 6, the billion dollar nuclear bailout legislation at the center of trial. They both pleaded not guilty.