-Caveat Lector-
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--- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- Prosecutor Alleges Energy Market Conspiracy
By KRISTEN HAYS
AP Business Writer HOUSTON (AP)--A former El Paso Corp. energy trader accused of reporting fake transactions was part of a conspiracy to supply the market with fraudulent information, a prosecutor said Monday.
El Paso also said Monday that its ongoing review of trading activities has revealed more instances of inaccurate price reporting, and that people involved in those instances are no longer with the company.
Todd Geiger, 38, has been charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of reporting false trade information. He was arrested in December for allegedly reporting 48 fake natural gas trades in November 2001 to an industry newsletter, ``Inside FERC Gas Market Report.'' The newsletter uses such information submitted each month to calculate index prices for the subsequent month, and movement in index prices often affect the level of profits traders can generate. Geiger, the only El Paso trader who has been charged, has pleaded innocent. His trial is set for March 24.
``Even though he is not charged with conspiracy, we believe his actions are part of a conspiracy that goes back two years,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lewis said, referring to Geiger while talking with U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas during a pretrial conference.
Lewis said the government is accumulating evidence turned over voluntarily by El Paso and last week obtained a recording containing 140 telephone calls taped by the company of ``other traders at El Paso and Inside FERC.'' That's in addition to recordings prosecutors already received, which include an Inside FERC editor questioning Geiger's 48 trades where Geiger told the editor ``essentially that they were real,'' Lewis said Monday. El Paso recorded the calls because companies tend to do that ``as evidence of the transactions,'' Lewis explained to Atlas.
Defense attorney George Murphy complained about Lewis' comments in open court about the possibility of a ``vast conspiracy.'' ``(Geiger) believes he's not guilty and I believe he's not guilty,'' Murphy said. Outside of court, Lewis declined to elaborate on the conspiracy he described to Atlas or comment on whether more charges are possible.
El Paso said Monday that the information recently provided to prosecutors and other agencies investigating trading practices ``indicates additional instances of inaccurate reporting'' to Inside FERC, and ``personnel engaged in these activities are no longer with the company.''
``We have previously stated that any inaccurate reporting is unacceptable and this company is determined to take whatever steps we need to ensure our operations are conducted within our high ethical standards and all legal requirements,'' said El Paso spokeswoman Norma Dunn.
Dynegy Inc., Williams Cos., CMS Energy Corp. and American Electric Power Co. also have disclosed that internal reviews found false reporting by traders.
El Paso said in November that it will exit the trading business, as are Dynegy and Aquila Inc. Geiger, a former El Paso vice president, took a leave of absence Nov. 6 and resigned Nov. 12. The next day, the company issued a statement about ``at least one incident in which it appears that inaccurate pricing information might have been provided to a trade publication.'' Murphy has said that nothing ever appeared in ``Inside FERC'' and that anything his client may have done had no effect on the price of natural gas. Lewis said while ``Inside FERC'' rejected Geiger's 48-trade submission, the government needs only to prove that Geiger reported fake trades, not whether they were published or affected the markets. Geiger is free on $250,000 bond.
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