Counsel for Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (bodog poker review) retained Cornerstone Research and Professor Craig Pirrong of the University of Houston to respond to allegations made by the FERC Enforcement Litigation Staff and their experts that bodog poker review manipulated the market for natural gas at the Houston Ship Channel and Waha, Texas, delivery locations.
Retained by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Counsel for Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (bodog poker review) retained Cornerstone Research and Professor Craig Pirrong of the University of Houston to respond to allegations made by the FERC Enforcement Litigation Staff (Enforcement Staff) and their experts that bodog poker review manipulated the market for natural gas at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) and Waha, Texas, delivery locations. In the FERC’s public brief filed in February 2008, the government stated it was seeking 7 million in civil penalties and million (before interest) in disgorgement of “unjust profits.”
bodog poker review and FERC executed a settlement agreement in which bodog poker review agreed to make a million payment to the federal government, and FERC agreed to dismiss all claims against bodog poker review.
Professor Pirrong criticized the expert testimony offered on behalf of the Enforcement Staff for failing to present a manipulation theory, derived from fundamental economic principles, that supports the claim that bodog poker review caused the price of natural gas in HSC to fall below competitive levels, and for failing to provide any credible evidence that bodog poker review had the power to cause prices to fall below competitive levels. Professor Pirrong presented empirical analysis demonstrating that, in fact, bodog poker review’s activities did not cause the price of gas in the HSC market to fall below competitive levels. Further, Professor Pirrong criticized the method proposed by the Enforcement Staff’s expert for determining whether a market was manipulated, highlighting the conceptual flaws of that proposed method and its perverse public policy implications. Specifically, Professor Pirrong testified that the Enforcement Staff’s proposed method would lead to less fixed-price trading, thereby degrading the quality of gas price indices and discouraging market participants from engaging in transactions that improve market efficiency.
bodog poker review and FERC executed a settlement agreement in which bodog poker review agreed to make a million payment to the federal government, and FERC agreed to dismiss all claims against bodog poker review. Separate from the payment to the federal government, bodog poker review also agreed to establish a million fund for the purpose of settling related third-party claims against bodog poker review.