State Republican leaders have begun trying to make the federal government’s move to fine a Durham company $722 million over its energy-efficiency trades a campaign issue against former Gov. Roy Cooper’s bid for a U.S. Senate seat.

N.C. GOP spokesman Matt Mercer issued a statement on April 21 that asks, “What did Roy Cooper know about American Efficient and when did he know it?”

American Efficient — and its corporate parent, Modern Energy — are the focus of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission investigation that began early in the Biden administration.

Their head is Ben Abram, son of Cooper donor Adam Abram and husband of state Sen. Sophia Chitlik, D-Durham.

Asked for its reaction, the Cooper campaign didn’t address American Efficient or Modern Energy. “To be clear, Roy Cooper spent his career cracking down on fraud, recovering hundreds of millions in taxpayer money and holding major corporations accountable when ripping off North Carolinians,” it said through a spokesman.

FERC’s three Biden appointees and two Trump appointees voted unanimously earlier this month to fine both companies and force them to repay $409.8 million, with interest, to power-grid operators they say the firms cheated.

They called the affair “one of the largest and most brazen frauds” the agency’s ever seen. One commissioner has called for a federal criminal probe.

FERC says American Efficient acquired sales data from Home Depot and other home-goods retailers, identified transactions that promised energy savings, and sold the rights to the savings to the PJM Interconnection and another grid operator.

It says that’s fraud because the company’s work didn’t create any real savings, as the goods involved were already in the hands of consumers.

American Efficient has denied any wrongdoing and says it expects vindication through the courts.

Mercer says the Abram family has donated “at least” $886,526 in donations to North Carolina Democrats over the years, including $72,850 to Cooper.

State Board of Elections records document donations by both “B. Abram” and Adam Abram to Cooper.

It’s not clear whether Adam Abram — the founder and former CEO of James River Group Holdings — has any personal involvement in Modern Energy or its subsidiary. Modern Energy has declined to comment on whether he’s even a passive shareholder or investor.