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Senators question U.S. energy market settlement with JPMorgan

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Two men walk past the front desk inside of the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase & Co bank in New York, March 15, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Two men walk past the front desk inside of the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase & Co bank in New York, March 15, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson

WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 31, 2013 1:44pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic Senators on Wednesday asked U.S. energy regulators for more details on how terms of a settlement were reached on alleged power market manipulation in California and the Midwest by a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In a letter to Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, both of Massachusetts, questioned whether the settlement announced on Tuesday included "adequate refunds to defrauded ratepayers."

JPMorgan Ventures Energy Corp agreed to disgorge $125 million in profits and pay a civil penalty of $285 million for 12 "manipulative bidding strategies" identified by regulators as having taken place between September 2010 and November 2012.

It was the second largest penalty in FERC's history but, the Senators wrote, "equal to roughly 1.3 percent of JPMorgan's 2012 profits."

Warren and Markey also asked FERC why certain JPMorgan executives accused by FERC "of stiff-arming its investigators by refusing to comply with subpoenas," will not be punished, and why the company was permitted to avoid an admission of guilt.

Craig Cano, a spokesman for FERC, said the commission does not comment on Congressional correspondence but that Wellinghoff would respond to the Senators.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Carol Bishopric)

 
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Comments (3)
tmc wrote:
“of stiff-arming its investigators by refusing to comply with subpoenas,” will not be punished, and why the company was permitted to avoid an admission of guilt.
-Simply because they are above the law.

Jul 31, 2013 2:03pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
chekovmerlin wrote:
Absolutely the correct move for the Senators from Massachusetts. The silence from Boxer and Feinstein in California is DEAFENING!

Jul 31, 2013 2:12pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
BBoy705 wrote:
What J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs (hoarding aluminum to drive up prices) is nothing short of obscene! These are companies that were bailed out by taxpayers and now they’re ripping us off and getting what amounts to a slap on the wrist for doing so. Meanwhile what is Congress doing? Voting for the 40th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act! I have no idea why Americans are not up in arms with what’s going on! What the heck are all those defenders of the Second Amendment doing? Waiting for something really big to go down? Well guess what? It’s happening every single day and no one is doing a damn thing to stop it! And don’t blame just Obama, this has been going on for much longer than he’s been in office! Now get back to watching TV, eating potato chips and drinking beer. They have you right where they want you!

Jul 31, 2013 2:49pm EDT  --  Report as abuse