Ex-Energy Trader at Williams Pleads Guilty

Brion Scott McKenna, a former energy trader at Williams Cos., pleaded guilty to manipulating natural gas prices by submitting false pricing information to trade publications.

At a hearing in San Francisco, McKenna, 36, said that from mid-September 2000 to June 2002 he conspired with others to drive gas prices up or down by reporting false data to Inside FERC Gas Market Report and NGI’s Bidweek Survey.

McKenna is the second former Williams trader to plead guilty as part of a U.S. investigation into whether traders inflated prices during California’s 2000-2001 energy crisis. Williams paid a $20-million fine to settle federal regulators’ claims that it tried to manipulate natural-gas indexes and reached a $417-million settlement with California.