Finkelstein Thompson LLP, one of the four Court-appointed lead counsel in In Re: Natural Gas Commodity Litigation, Master File No. 03 CV 6186, announces that on May 24, 2006, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Final Judgment and Order of Dismissal approving settlements with seventeen defendants that allegedly submitted false transaction reports to natural gas price index publishers.  FT and its co-lead counsel have to date recovered in excess of $72.5 million for the benefit of the Class.

The settlement concludes the litigation as to the following natural gas price reporting defendants: CMS Field Services (now known as Cantera Gas Company LLC); CMS Marketing Services & Trading Company (now known as CMS Energy Resource Management Company); Cook Inlet Energy Supply, LLC; Cinergy Marketing and Trading L.P.; Duke Energy Trading and Marketing, L.L.C.; Dynegy Marketing and Trade, East Coast Power, L.L.C.; e-prime, Inc.; Encerco Energy, Inc.; Entergy-Koch Trading, LP; MidAmerican Energy Company; Mieco, Inc. ONEOK, Inc; ONEOK Energy Services Company, L.P. (formerly ONEOK Energy & Marketing Company, L.P.); Reliant Energy Services, Inc.; Sempra Energy Trading Corp.; Western Gas Resources, Inc.; WD Energy Services, Inc.; Williams Power Company, Inc. (formerly Williams Energy Marketing & Trading Co., Inc.) and the Williams Companies, Inc.

The class action lawsuit alleged that these companies violated the federal commodity laws by knowingly and deliberately reporting inaccurate, misleading and false trading information -- including artificial volume and price information -- to trade publications that compile and publish widely-followed indices of natural gas spot prices.  In addition, defendants engaged in a variety of fraudulent trade reporting strategies, including wash trades, whose purpose was to create the perception of increased liquidity and demand for natural gas, and thus to manipulate the spot prices of natural gas.  A Class comprising of all persons who purchased and/or sold NYMEX natural gas futures and options contracts between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2002, excluding defendants in the Action, their employees, any parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the defendants, any entity in which any of the defendants has or had a controlling interest during the Class Period, and the legal representatives, heir, successors or assigns of any of the defendants, was certified by the Court in October 2005.

FT and its co-lead counsel continue to pursue claims on behalf of the Class against the remaining non-settling defendants American Electric Power Co., Inc and AEP Energy Services, Inc.; Aquila Energy Services Marketing Corp. and Aquila Merchant Services, Inc.; Coral Energy Resources, LP; and El Paso Merchant Energy, L.P. and El Paso Corp.  For more information on this case, please contact This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .