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January 06, 2006
Remaining charges dropped against former Duke trader
Sanity finally prevailed over at the federal courthouse yesterday as the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that it would not prosecute former Duke Energy trader Timothy Kramer again on fraud charges that ended in a mistrial this past December after a month-long trial. Previous posts on the case are here.
Kramer and his former Duke colleague, Todd Reid, were accused of 19 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and related charges in connection with allegedly manipulating Duke's gas and power trades from March 2001 to May 2002. The alleged motive was to increase Duke's reported profits so that the traders could recover larger bonuses under their compensation arrangement with Duke. The jury acquitted Reid on all charges and Kramer on several charges on December 7th, but the jurors deadlocked on the remaining charges against Kramer.
Meanwhile, Brian Lavielle, a former Duke trader and co-defendant with Kramer and Reid, faced a maximum sentence of twenty years and a fine of $5 million before cutting a deal for a maximum sentence of 5 years and a $1 million sentence under a cooperation deal that he cut with prosecutors in return for testifying against Kramer and Reid. Sentencing is scheduled for Lavielle on May 12th. Lavielle's deal increasingly looks like a result of the unfortunate dynamics discussed earlier here and here.
Posted by Tom at January 6, 2006 08:21 AM
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Comments
I think you mean TIM Kramer and Todd Reid.
Posted by: Tom O'Malley at January 6, 2006 10:17 AM
Thanks for the catch. Too many "T's" ;^)
Posted by: Tom Kirkendall at January 6, 2006 10:34 AM
Why the long wait to sentence Brian Lavielle?
Also, according the the usdoj website, http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/releases/February2005/050210-Lavielle.htm, Brian faces 10 years in prison and a max fine of $1 million, not 20/$5 mentioned above.
Posted by: Cindy at January 6, 2006 04:34 PM
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