Duke executives, trader indicted on fraud

HOUSTON -- - Three former Duke Energy Corp. trading executives were indicted recently for racketeering and fraud in a scheme to boost their annual bonuses by recording losing trades in the wrong accounting book.

The 18-count indictment charges former vice presidents Timothy Kramer and Todd Reid and former natural gas trader Brian Lavielle with racketeering, wire fraud and falsification of corporate books and records at Duke Energy North America, LLC.

Reid and Kramer, his immediate subordinate, were also charged with two counts each of money laundering. The men are accused of conducting more than 400 trades and manipulating their accounting to boost the Duke subsidiary's mark-to-market trading book by $50 million in 2001.

The mens' year-end bonuses were calculated based on the profitability of that book -- the daily reckoning of the trading operation.

Prosecutors say that led to fraudulently high bonuses of $5 million for Reid, $4 million for Kramer and $340,000 for Lavielle. All three pleaded not guilty during an initial appearance in Houston federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson, who freed each of the men on $100,000 bond.

"This was a really bad shell game, where you simply move something from one account to another, hoping that people only pay attention to your left hand and not to your right," said Michael Shelby, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas in Houston.

The men put the profitable trades -- like the winning half of a round-trip trade -- into the mark-to-market book and the losing trades in the accrual book, Shelby said.

"Putting those trades into the accrual book is fraud," he added. The latter record is specifically for trades where the profit or loss is deferred until later, usually in the case of long-term hedges. It had no bearing on the bonuses at Duke, Shelby said. Thomas Hagemann, Reid's lawyer, said the case should be nothing more than a civil dispute between his client and Duke.

"In the wake of Enron's collapse, I'm afraid that prosecutorial zeal has overtaken good judgment and common sense," Hagemann said.

Kramer's lawyer, Jim Lavine, said his client had done nothing to harm Duke or investors and would fight the charges.

Lavielle's lawyer, Charles Meadows, said his client had passed a lie detector test that confirms he "did not knowingly participate in any effort to falsify the books and records of Duke."

Lavielle, 33, faces a maximum of 90 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Kramer and Reid face a maximum of 110 years because of the additional money laundering charges. Kramer and Reid were fired in August 2002 and Laveille resigned recently, Shelby said.

Duke said it was reviewing its legal options to gain restitution from the three pending the outcome of the criminal case. Prosecutors are also seeking forfeiture of the bonus money.

The company cooperated with the investigation, Shelby said.