Barclays traders rigged American electricity prices to boost their own profits and bragged about it in damning e-mails

James Salmon
UK Daily Mail
Nov 3, 2012

Barclays traders toyed with electricity prices at several major power trading hubs in the western U.S. to boost their own profits.

The men were caught, and Barclays slapped with a $470million fine, after they bragged about the price rigging in a series of damning, foul-mouthed e-mails.

Four traders are accused of conspiring to sell electricity at a loss to drive prices down between November 2006 and 2008.

This enabled simultaneous bets on falling energy prices to reap huge profits, leading to losses of $140million for other investors and pensions funds.

However, the actions are not believed to have raised energy prices for consumers.

Critics yesterday said the expletive-ridden correspondence provides further evidence of the ‘rotten culture of casino banking’ that built up under Bob Diamond, the disgraced former CEO of the British bank.

Full article here

This article was posted: Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 9:33 am

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