Los Angeles Times- U.S. regulators on Thursday charged defunct hedge fund Amaranth Advisors and pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners with manipulating natural gas markets and proposed $458million in penalties.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in its first enforcement action using new authority provided by Congress, is seeking $291 million from Amaranth and former head trader Brian Hunter and hiscolleague Matthew Donohoe.
Energy Transfer Partners was hit with a possible $167-million penalty for attempting to manipulate gas markets, including at the Houston Ship Channel days after Hurricane Rita hit the Gulf Coast inSeptember 2005.
The agency also demanded both companies return profits related to the trades.
FERC’s charges are preliminary. The companies have 30 days to show why they should not be penalized. Both companies denied the charges.
“Failure to refute these findings will confirm that their actions harmed many wholesale market participants, creating losses that ultimately hurt natural gas customers across the country,” said FERCChairman Joseph Kelliher.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed similar charges on Wednesday against Amaranth, which lost $6.4 billion from bad natural gas bets before folding last year.
