U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston Wednesday set Sept. 29 as the new hearing date for former El Paso Corp. executive Todd Geiger. Prosecutors will use the intervening time to weigh whether to appeal the judge’s recent ruling, in which she dismissed a false reporting charge against the ex-energy trader (see Daily GPI, Aug. 29).

In two rulings last week, Atlas dismissed one charge against Geiger and three similar false reporting charges against former Dynegy Corp. trader Michelle Valencia. Atlas said the Commodities Exchange Act, upon which the government’s false reporting charges were based, was “unconstitutionally overbroad.”

Both Geiger and Valencia, whose pretrial hearing is set for Sept. 8, still face charges of wire fraud for allegedly giving false energy price data to Platt’s Inside FERC.

Atlas said she hopes to set a new trial date for Geiger by the time of the hearing. Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Lewis said his office will use the time to decide “whether or not we’re pursuing an appeal.” An appeal could delay the trial until a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

©Copyright 2003 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.