Over a one-month period last summer, Chuck Watson, the former chairman and CEO of Dynegy, apparently sold off a substantial amount of shares he was holding in the fallen energy merchant. According to a series of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), more than 5 million shares of Watson’s Dynegy stock were sold between June and July.

Watson resigned from Dynegy in late May (see Daily GPI, May 29). The share price, which has fallen since the beginning of the year, has dropped considerably since Watson’s departure. According to the SEC filings, several of the Watson family trusts and partnerships reported they would sell up to 5.6 million common shares of Dynegy on seven probable dates between the end of June and the end of July.

A spokeswoman for Watson confirmed that the shares had been sold, but she could not confirm on which dates the sales were completed. How much Watson made from the sales also was not revealed, and the proceeds do not have to be reported to the SEC.

“Dynegy remains the largest holding within the Watson portfolio at this time,” a spokeswoman said. Until mid-June, Watson owned or controlled nearly 7.3 million shares of common stock and also held 4.2 million options to buy stock. Watson’s spokeswoman said the former CEO had not exercised any of his stock options.

On Friday, Dynegy’s shares were trading between $1.75 and $1.85 at mid-day. Between the end of June and the end of July when Watson’s shares would have been sold, the shares were trading as high as $7.20, and as low as 51 cents. The day Watson resigned, May 28, Dynegy’s shares were being sold for $9.69.

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