New York, NY – August 12, 2009 – Amaranth Advisors L.L.C. and its subsidiary, Amaranth Advisors (Calgary) ULC, have agreed to settle charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for attempting to manipulate the price of natural gas futures contracts. The settlement, entered by the Honorable Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, requires the Amaranth entities to pay a $7.5 million civil monetary penalty.
The CFTC alleged that Amaranth attempted to manipulate the price of natural gas futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) on February 24, 2006, and April 26, 2006. The complaint, originally filed on July 25, 2007, further claimed that Amaranth made false statements to NYMEX in response to an inquiry about the April 26th trading activity, attempting to conceal their manipulative actions.
The court order permanently enjoins the Amaranth entities from violating the anti-manipulation provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. Additionally, Amaranth Advisors L.L.C. is prohibited from violating Section 9(a)(4) of the Act, which prohibits false or misleading statements to registered entities like NYMEX.
The settlement does not affect the claims against Brian Hunter, the former head natural gas trader for Amaranth, who was also named in the original CFTC complaint. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced a simultaneous settlement with other Amaranth defendants.
The case was investigated by CFTC staff including Michael C. McLaughlin, Elizabeth C. Brennan, David Oakland, R. Stephen Painter, Linda Y. Peng, Nathan Ploener, Karin N. Roth, W. Derek Shakabpa, David W. MacGregor, Manal Sultan, Lenel Hickson, Jr. and Vincent McGonagle.
Source: CFTC.gov
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