The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fined the leading trader of Amaranth Advisors hedge fund Brian Hunter for tampering on the natural gas market, BBC News reports. The amount of fine is 30 million dollars. Hunter’s lawyer has not yet reported if his client is going to lodge an appeal against his conviction.
The fine is related to the Hunter and one more trader – Matthew Donohoe’s investigation of 2007 which was carried out by FERC. Authorities accused both traders of using the scheme which seriously influenced the gas prices. In particular, the scheme included the sales of a significant number of gas futures at the agreed price which enabled traders to manipulate the gas prices and take illegal profit. In 2009 traders succeeded to resolve the conflict with FERC.
It is interesting fact that in 2006 Trader Monthly magazine acknowledged Hunter as the most unsuccessful trader. His actions led to the loss of 5 billion dollars on the gas contract market from his own pocket and more than 6 billion dollars of Amaranth Advisors fund.
As BBC informs the current fine was imposed after the statements of the US President Barack Obama about formation of a commission which would be engaged in investigations of tampering on the oil market where oil prices are closely related to gas ones. Obama has noted that 35% fuel price growth of the last year could be caused by the manipulations on the oil market.
