Overview

Timothy Belden was the head of trading at Enron Energy Services and the primary architect of the trading strategies that manipulated California's energy market during the 2000-2001 electricity crisis. Belden developed and directed multiple schemes, with names like "Death Star," "Fat Boy," and "Get Shorty", that exploited flaws in California's deregulated electricity market to generate massive profits for Enron while causing rolling blackouts and skyrocketing energy bills for millions of Californians. Belden held a Master's degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy and had spent five years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory before joining Enron, giving him deep technical knowledge of energy systems that he weaponized for profit. At Enron, he received a $5 million bonus for his trading desk's extraordinary returns, returns that were the product of market manipulation rather than legitimate trading skill. On October 17, 2002, Belden pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, becoming an important cooperating witness for federal prosecutors. On February 14, 2007, he was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $2.1 million, a notably lenient sentence that reflected the value of his cooperation. After serving his sentence, Belden co-founded Energy GPS LLC in Portland, Oregon in 2009 with former colleague Jeff Richter, an energy consulting and analytics firm.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

Known Associates & Connections

Sources & Documentation

3 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports