On the other hand the CFTC should have disemboweled Hunter.
From Bloomberg:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lacks authority over futures contracts, a U.S. appeals court ruled, handing a victory to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and an ex-Amaranth Advisors LLC trader fined $30 million by FERC.
Congress intended to centralize oversight of futures contracts in the CFTC, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said today. It brushed aside FERC’s contention that the two agencies share jurisdiction over aspects of energy markets that allowed FERC to fine trader Brian Hunter for alleged market manipulation.
“FERC lacks jurisdiction to charge Hunter with manipulation of natural-gas futures contracts,” U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel wrote for a three-judge panel. The Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction,” he said.
The case highlights a turf battle between the two agencies developing at least in part from expanded powers Congress granted to FERC in 2005 to regulate energy trading in the wake of blackouts in California triggered by Enron Corp. traders.
FERC had argued that the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction over regulating futures contracts and futures markets doesn’t extend to manipulation....MORE
