Former Top Enron Executive Arrested

SAN FRANCISCO -- A former top Enron energy-trading executive was arrested by federal agents on Tuesday on charges stemming from the company's manipulation of power markets during California's energy crisis, Reuters reported.

John Forney is the third former Enron Corp. executive charged with a federal crime in connection with Enron schemes to manipulate energy prices during California's 2000-01 energy crisis, which is estimated to have cost the state up to $42 billion.

Forney was arrested at the headquarters of American Electric Power Co. Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, where he is currently employed. His arrest was announced by Kevin Ryan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.

Forney was the head of Enron's western "real-time" power-trading operations in Portland, Oregon, from June 1999 until the end of 2000. The charges against him allege that he was the architect of several illegal trading strategies used by Enron to inflate power prices, including one scheme called "ping pong" that aimed to evade federal price caps slapped on the volatile California market in 2001.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 06/04/03