"Amaranth Settles Charges of Market Manipulation"

"Amaranth Advisors, a hedge fund that collapsed in 2006, agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle accusations from regulators that it tried to manipulate natural gas futures.

The agreement ends cases brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission involving the fund’s trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The energy commission initially proposed a fine of $291 million. Amaranth’s assets have been substantially diminished since the agency first proposed the fine, the commission said in its order approving the deal.

Amaranth controlled more than half the United States natural gas market before its collapse, according to a Senate report released in June 2007."

Bloomberg had the story August 12, 2009.