Ex-Enron executives sentenced to probation for electricity market manipulation News
Ex-Enron executives sentenced to probation for electricity market manipulation

[JURIST] A federal court in California sentenced two former Enron [JURIST news archive] executives Wednesday to probation for their roles in Enron's manipulation of electricity supplies during the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis. Timothy Belden [Wikipedia profile], former head of Enron's West Coast power trading who pleaded guilty [plea agreement, PDF; WSJ report] to deliberately submitting false data to California electricity operators to drive up Enron's profits, was sentenced to two years of probation. He must also pay a $10,000 fine. Another former Enron employee, Jeffrey Richter, was also sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for conspiracy.

A third former Enron trader, John Forney, pleaded guilty in 2004 [JURIST report] for conspiracy to commit similar profit drives. He is expected to be sentenced next month. Belden, Richter, and Forney are the only three ex-Enron traders to be charged with manipulating the California market. The Houston Chronicle has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.