The New York Times: Paper: Gas Traders, Supervisors Face Probe: “commission collected a total of about $250 million in penalties… $30 million from Coral Energy Resources, a Houston-based trading subsidiary of Shell.” (ShellNews.net)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 11, 2004

HOUSTON (AP) -- Former traders and supervisors from the nation's largest natural gas pipeline company are the target of a grand jury investigation into price manipulation, according to a newspaper report.

As many as 10 former El Paso Corp. employees received target letters from the U.S. Attorney's Houston office informing them they may face charges of commodity price manipulation, conspiracy and wire fraud, sources familiar with the investigation told the Houston Chronicle for a story in Wednesday editions.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ex-employees were told they have until Aug. 20 to contact prosecutors to begin discussing pleas.

In December, a former El Paso Corp. trader pleaded guilty to reporting fake trades to an industry publication that uses the data to calculate the index price of natural gas. The ex-trader, Todd Geiger, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their ongoing investigation.

In the past two years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed civil charges against several companies, claiming their traders knowingly provided false data to publications with the intention of influencing natural gas prices. The commission collected a total of about $250 million in penalties, including $20 million from Houston-based El Paso and $30 million from Coral Energy Resources, a Houston-based trading subsidiary of Shell.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-El-Paso-Trades.html