Real Scandal: From 2005 to 2006, energy giant FirstEnergy was getting in increasingly deep water with the feds. The company was facing criminal charges for an alleged 2002 coverup of a reactor head ready to blow at its Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio. In January 2006, FirstEnergy ponied up $28 million, on top of a previous $5.45 million penalty, to make the criminal charges go away. The cost of the replacement reactor head? $605 million, according to the Toledo Blade.
Film Scandal:
Erin Brockovich