Enron Traders Laughed About Stealing From 'Grandmothers'

HOUSTON -- Enron Corp. traders openly discussed manipulating the California power market and joked about stealing from grandmothers during the Western energy crisis in 2000-2001, according to transcripts of telephone calls filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The transcripts, some littered with profanity, were filed by a public utility district near Seattle.
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John Forney, a former top trader in Enron's defunct Western trading operation based in Portland, Ore., is slated to stand trial on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. Two other former Portland traders, Timothy Belden and Jeffrey Richter, have pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and are helping prosecutors.

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., said that in light of the tapes he'd introduce an amendment next week that would compel FERC to compensate West Coast ratepayers for years of price-gouging by Enron. Washington Gov. Gary Locke said he was outraged by the tapes.

"If true, these tapes are proof of what many of us have been saying all along -- that energy interests deliberately manipulated prices," Locke said.

Energy merchants regularly tape trader conversations to keep a record of transactions.

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According to the Snohomish County Public Utility District, which obtained audiotapes of trader conversations from the Justice Department and transcribed them, traders openly discussed creating congestion on transmission lines, taking generating units offline to pump up electricity prices and overall manipulation of the California power market.

For example, in one transcript a trader asks about "all the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers of California."

To which the Enron trader responds, "Yeah, Grandma Millie, man. But she's the one who couldn't figure out how to (expletive) vote on the butterfly ballot."
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Eric Christensen, a lawyer for the utility district, said it is seeking to convince a FERC administrative law judge that Enron should be ordered to surrender as much as $2 billion in unjust profits.

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