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Former Enserco Trader Gets 5-Month Prison Term

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Nov 22, 2008 4:47 pm US/Mountain

Former Enserco Trader Gets 5-Month Prison Term

DENVER (AP) ― A former Enserco Energy Inc. trader has been sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest for reporting false natural gas trade data in Colorado and Canada to a publication used to set prices and settle trades.

Mathew Reed, 36, of Salt Lake City was sentenced for wire fraud Thursday by Chief U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel.

Daniel also gave him three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $6,000 fine.

Reed worked for Enserco in its office in Golden.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2007 in Denver and pleaded guilty in February 2008.

Prosecutors say Reed falsely reported natural gas trade price and volume information to "Gas Daily," which collects data to compile an index of gas prices, from May 2000 to June 2002. His goal was to manipulate the published index prices and thereby increase his profit on trades of natural gas, court records said.

"Manipulating the energy markets leaves the rest of us holding the bag," said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid.

The case was investigated by the FBI.

In 2003, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined Enserco $3 million on allegations that it falsely reported the prices at which it bought or sold gas, skewing price indices on which buyers and sellers base negotiations.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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