Legal Basis of FERC’s Enforcement Proceedings Against Powhatan Energy Fund and Allied Entities Sharply Debated in Federal Court Proceedings

摘要

Since May 29, 2015, when FERC affirmed its Office of Enforcement’s assertion that Powhatan Energy Fund, its chief outside advisor, Houlian Chen, and two funds controlled directly by Chen were guilty of violating the Commission’s energy market manipulation rules (IN15-3), it has been expected that the clash would continue in court. In late October and early November, those expectations played out in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia in an exchange of briefs by FERC counsel and attorneys for Powhatan and Chen (collectively, the “respondents”).