A federal judge yesterday denied an effort by collapsed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors to get one regulator off its back, but cautioned that agency that it would be “prudent” to back off.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan denied Greenwich, Conn.-based Amaranth’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC charged that Amaranth, which blew up spectacularly last year, losing about $6 billion on bad natural gas trades, with market manipulation of those very same natural gas markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has also charged Amaranth with market manipulation, based on substantially the same trades and evidence.
Judge Chin said he denied the motion because he lacked jurisdiction and because Amaranth had not met the requirements for an injunction. But he added that the agencies should “coordinate their efforts, at least to some degree.”
“I agree that it would be prudent for FERC to defer this lawsuit,” he wrote.
From the Central Valley Business Times:Two years after Congress passed a law requiring the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to come up with effective oversight for energy markets and implement anti manipulation provisions, little or nothing has been done, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says.
In a letter to the chairman of the two commissions, Ms. Feinstein, joined by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., say they want a plan within the next 45 days that will provide the oversight mandated by law....MORE
