Release: 5292-07

For Release: February 15, 2007

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission Settles Action Charging NRG Energy Inc. with Falsely Reporting Natural Gas Trades

NRG Agrees to Pay a $2 Million Civil Monetary Penalty

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota entered a consent order against Minneapolis-based NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) requiring NRG to pay a $2 million civil monetary penalty to settle CFTC’s charges that NRG knowingly reported false information concerning natural gas trades to Gas Daily, an energy index reporting service.

The order resolves the CFTC’s action brought against NRG on July 1, 2004 (see CFTC News Release 4947-04, July 1, 2004).

The consent order includes findings that, from at least August 2001 through May 2, 2002, NRG reported false information, including price and volume information, about natural gas trades to Gas Daily, a daily natural gas index published by Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. According to the order, the reports contained purported trades that traders had not executed, trades executed by NRG but with altered prices and/or volumes, and intra-day trades reported as next day trades. As explained in the order, participants in the natural gas markets use indexes like Gas Daily to price and settle commodity transactions, and natural gas futures traders refer to the published indexes for price discovery and for assessing price risks.

The settlement follows an August 4, 2006, decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversing an order of the District Court dismissing without prejudice the CFTC’s action against NRG on the grounds that the bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York, where NRG had petitioned for bankruptcy relief, retained exclusive jurisdiction over the action (see CFTC News Release 5214-06, August 10, 2006).

The following Division of Enforcement staff were responsible for this case: Anthony M. Mansfield, Judith Hutchison, Allison Lurton, Laura Gardy, Kim Bruno, Gretchen L. Lowe, Richard B. Wagner, and Vincent A. McGonagle.

Media Contacts
Ianthe Zabel
202-418-5080

Dennis Holden
202-418-5088
 

Last Updated: April 22, 2010