- Timothy Belden
Timothy Norris Belden (born 1967) is the former head of trading in
Enron Energy Services . He is considered the mastermind of Enron's scheme to drive upCalifornia 's energy prices, by developing many of the trading strategies that resulted in theCalifornia electricity crisis . Belden pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a plea bargain, along with his cooperation with authorities to help convict many top Enron executives.Belden was sentenced on February 14, 2007, to two years of court-supervised release and must forfeit $2.1 million. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/business/15enron.html] Federal prosecutors recommended probation because Belden cooperated in the case, assisting with the prosecution of senior Enron executives. [http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/117159995521840.xml&coll=7]
Jeff Richter was also sentenced to probation. John Forney has not yet been sentenced.
The maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. None of which are being met by Belden or the other convicted accomplices John Forney [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/2003/2003_12_04_forney.html] or Jeffery Richter [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/2003/2003_02_04_richter.html] . All three pleaded guilty to and were convicted of the same one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Belden was known to have received a $5 million bonus from Enron as a reward for the profits he extracted from California for Enron. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/17/MN74145.DTL]
He holds a master's degree in public policy from the
Goldman School of Public Policy atUC-Berkeley and spent five years working as a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.References
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