District

A U.S. district court judge in Houston last week denied a motion by a former Enron Corp. trading executive that sought to dismiss charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that he manipulated or attempted to manipulate the wholesale natural gas market.

A U.S. district court judge in Houston this week denied a motion by a former Enron Corp. trading executive that sought to dismiss charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last year that he manipulated or attempted to manipulate the wholesale natural gas market.

Former Westar Energy CEO David Wittig on Friday was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to 51 months in federal prison, without parole, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $1 million fine after Wittig last summer was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of making false bank entries and one count of money laundering.

Former Westar Energy CEO David Wittig on Friday was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to 51 months in federal prison, without parole, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $1 million fine after Wittig last summer was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of making false bank entries and one count of money laundering following a 10-day jury trial.

Enron’s former top accountant, Richard Causey, surrendered to the FBI Thursday but pleaded innocent to six securities fraud and conspiracy charges before a U.S. District Court judge in Houston. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against him on Thursday stating that he helped engineer fraudulent schemes to hide poorly performing assets from Enron investors while artificially inflating financial results in a effort to drive up Enron’s stock price.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday entered an order confirming a plan of reorganization for 21 of NRG Energy Inc.’s (NRG) operating subsidiaries in the Northeast and South Central regions of the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, Jr. in Manhattan has agreed with Allegheny Energy that its counterclaims against Merrill Lynch should be heard by the court, particularly the charges regarding whether Allegheny was misled when it purchased Global Energy Markets (GEM) from Merrill in 2001 for $490 million and a 2% equity interest in the trading unit.

U.S. District Judge Harold Baer, Jr. in Manhattan has agreed with Allegheny Energy that its counterclaims against Merrill Lynch should be heard by the court, particularly the charges regarding whether Allegheny was misled when it purchased Global Energy Markets (GEM) from Merrill in 2001 for $490 million and a 2% equity interest in the trading unit.

Trans-Elect on Thursday filed suit in the Federal District Court of Northern Illinois (Chicago) against Illinois Power on the grounds that the utility violated the terms of a contract to sell its transmission system to Trans-Elect. The move comes after Dynegy Inc. last month disclosed that it is in talks to sell its Illinois Power unit to Exelon Corp.(see NGI, Sept. 29).