Feds: Enron made more than $1.6 billion on Western energy crisis

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, Feb. 01, 2005

Feds: Enron made more than $1.6 billion on Western energy crisis

ERICA WERNER
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Enron Corp. made more than $1.67 billion in Western states over a six-year period that included the region's energy crisis - money the bankrupt energy company may be required to return, federal energy officials said Monday.

California officials immediately criticized the estimate as more than $1 billion too low.

It was the first accounting by federal regulators of Western energy crisis profits by Enron. The Houston company is accused by California officials of gaming the state's power market and scheming to rip off consumers.

The total was disclosed in testimony by a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission financial analyst before a FERC administrative law judge. FERC ordered the judge last summer to determine the total amount Enron should have to give back from power profits in 11 Western states from January 16, 1997, to June 25, 2003.

FERC has said Enron was in violation of its authority to sell power in the West at market-based rates during that entire period, and could be required to return all the profits it made.
(snip/...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/10781748.htm
(Free registration is required)

[Erika]

1. Enron robbed its employees of their retirement plan

but W still calls Ken Lay "Kenny boy". One of his Texan patriots who donated $100,000 to Bush,

[TheDebbieDee]

3. And at the same time, ENRON undermined.....

the fiscal credibility of then California Governor Gray Davis, by locking the state into expensive resource contracts at prices that hadn't been budgeted for!

[genius]

2. And Arnold met with Ken Lay to plan out California's demise.

[yurbud]

8. I sent something asking the AG about this. No word back yet.

If that isn't racketeering, I don't know what is.

[Bozita]

9. Sounds like time to apply RICO

Sounds like racketeering to me.

[leveymg]

4. Sounds like a real low-ball estimate

Recall there were studies that placed the illicit gains in the $3-5 billion range.

Guess the taxpayer's will just have to make up the difference. Wonder why Gov. Ahhnold doesn't push that as part of his agenda?

[bobweaver]

5. And I want my money back. We paid huge electric bills in 2000 in San Diego

[toymachines]

7. i remember that shit

corporate scum robbed us blind.

[tridim]

6. So I guess Ken Lay got off scot free?

Why? High stakes Republican criminals who pay off the King don't go to prison, ever.

Remeber the "Grandma Millie" tapes? Down the memory hole and shredded by the legal system. Not guility! And my Mom wonders why I don't trust corporations any more.

[cthrumatrix]

20. why is Ken Lay NOT in prison ????????????????????????

[Hekate]

10. That little? They robbed us blind...

...cost us a governor, indirectly (maybe even directly) gave us the Governator, wrecked our state economy, the state was only able to keep the electricity flowing by signing up for years of extortionate rates, public schools are still suffering ...

And the godless, soulless, bastards laughed. They laughed at the misery of common people.

Ken Lay and the rest of his merry band of gangsters should be forced to empty every one of their savings accounts and transfer their stocks and other assets to the states of California, Washington, and Oregon, sell their houses and trade in their cars, hock their wives' jewellery -- and essentially start over with zero, zip, nada.

They should serve time in prison, and the terms of their paroles should be the same as for other felons: no going back to their old pals, no working in the line of business where they did their crimes. If common burglars are forbidden to hang out in bars, Kenny-boy and the rest ought to have to give up their country club memberships.

Those bastards laughed at us. Well, f* them and the horse they rode in on.

Hekate
why don't I tell you how I really feel?

[Kolesar]

11. dupe AP story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1200815

[struggle4progress]

12. kick for The Ownership Society. eom

[Moderator]

13. kick

[emad]

14. Enron could face $1.67bn profiteering bill

Telegraph
By David Litterick in New York (Filed: 02/02/2005)


Enron should have to pay back "ill-gotten profits" of almost $1.67 billion (£900m) to western US states that suffered during the energy crisis of 2000-2001, regulators said yesterday.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission estimates the amount is what Enron made in California and 10 other states between 1997 and 2003. It accuses the company of developing gaming models to exploit the power market and overcharge customers.

The Houston-based company, which is snared in bankruptcy proceedings, has been accused of profiteering from the questionable trading schemes. The ploys were widely copied by other companies to take advantage of market weaknesses and power shortages during the year-long energy emergency, bringing record prices and a series of blackouts. Three Enron traders have already pleaded guilty to fraud charges for rigging California's electricity markets.

Enron has until May to make its own submissions, but if approved by the courts later in the year, it would be the largest penalty yet for misconduct. It would also signal a tougher line by federal regulators, who have been criticised for lax oversight of California's energy marketplace in 2000 and 2001.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/02/02/cnenr02.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/02/02/ixcity.html

[TrueAmerican]

15. What about jail time

for Kenny Boy Lay?

[TahitiNut]

16. That's only about 10% of the total theft.

They'd damned well better go after the other companies and their inheritors. :grr:

The people who were ripped off (including me) will never be compensated, though. Bastards!

[Liberty Belle]

17. So after our gas bill went up nine-fold, + electricty quadrupled,

we San Diegans have to stand in line after all the other Enron creditors?

Another example of Republican moral values.

[natrat]

18. man all this crap, i mean everything, makes me feal so naive

what was i thinking, america is a good and just place, oh well

[Snellius]

19. But Big Dick said it was all California's fault, didn't he?

"Flawed deregulaltion plan"!!!!
"You don't understand the economic laws of supply and demand"!!!!
"California needs a new power plant a week for the next ten years"!!!!
Big Dick, that oily shill, should be in jail for that con game.
And no one seems to remember a word.