Charges brought against Amaranth and team

This just hit the WSJ site, and will come as a surprise, perhaps, to some:

CFTC Charges Amaranth, Hunter in Gas-Trading Probe
By KEVIN KINGSBURY
July 25, 2007 9:05 a.m.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil charges against hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC and former natural-gas trader Brian Hunter, alleging they schemed to manipulate prices in early 2006.

The agency charges Amaranth and Mr. Hunter “intentionally and unlawfully attempted to manipulate the price of natural gas futures contracts” on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Feb. 24 and April 26, 2006. Feb. 24 was the last day of trading for the March 2006 Nymex natural gas futures contract and April 26 was the expiry day of the May 2006 contract.

MRM