TotalEnergies (TGPNA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) resolved a 12-year case on Jan. 8 when the energy company agreed to a $5 million settlement in which neither party admitted fault.

The $5 million settlement was far below the $214 million the FERC originally sought.

TotalEnergies has maintained it acted lawfully and glad the case is over, TotalEnergies spokesman François Sinecan said in a statement to Reuters.

According to court documents, the FERC began investigating TotalEnergies and other firms in 2012 for allegations of intentionally making losing trades to affect index or benchmark prices that would result in larger overall gains for the company. 

The FERC made similar cases against units of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which paid a $285 million fine in 2013, and Barclays Plc, which paid a $70 million fine in 2017.

In 2015, the FERC alleged TotalEnergies had made at least 38 “uneconomic” trades between 2009 and 2012. The agency issued a notice of the proposed $214 million penalty in 2016.

Until Jan. 8, 2024, the case had dragged through the legal process. In 2021, a FERC administrative law judge scheduled a hearing for 2023. Before the hearing, TotalEnergies and others involved in the case sought to stop FERC’s hearing by filing with a federal district court in Houston.

The FERC issued an order terminating its hearing in September 2024, but said the enforcement matter was ongoing.

The Jan. 8 order ended the enforcement and was neither an admission of TotalEnergies’ liability nor a concession by FERC that its claims are not well-founded, FERC said.

The $5 million, to be paid in full within 10 business days, will go to a list of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that was not made public along with the agreement.

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