Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-271_j4ek.pdf
Page Number: 10.0

Cite as:  575 U. S. ____ (2015) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

being  sold  in  different  (presumably  competitive)  markets 
across  the  country.  The  information  on  which  these  in-
dices  were  based  was  voluntarily  reported  by  natural-gas
traders. 

In  2003,  FERC  found  that  the  indices  were  inaccurate, 
in  part  because  much of  the  information  that  natural-gas 
traders  reported  had  been  false.  See  FERC,  Final  Report
on  Price  Manipulation  in  Western  Markets  (Mar.  2003),
App. 88–89.  FERC found that false reporting had involved 
“inflating  the  volume  of  trades,  omitting  trades,  and  ad­
justing the price of trades.”  Id., at 88.  That is, sometimes 
those  who  reported  information  simply  fabricated  it.
Other  times,  the  information  reported  reflected  “wash 
trades,”  i.e.,  “prearranged  pair[s]  of  trades  of  the  same 
good between the same parties, involving no economic risk
and  no  net  change  in  beneficial  ownership.”  Id.,  at  215. 
FERC  concluded  that  these  “efforts  to  manipulate  price
indices  compiled  by  trade  publications”  had  helped  raise 
“to  extraordinary  levels”  the  prices  of  both  jurisdictional
sales  (that  is,  interstate  pipeline  sales  for  resale)  and 
nonjurisdictional  direct  sales  to  ultimate  consumers.    Id., 
at 86, 85. 

After  issuing  its  final  report  on  price  manipulation  in 
western  markets,  FERC  issued  a  Code  of  Conduct.  That 
code  amended  all  blanket  certificates  to  prohibit  jurisdic­
tional  sellers  “from  engaging  in  actions  without  a  legiti­
mate  business  purpose  that  manipulate  or  attempt  to
manipulate market conditions, including wash trades and
collusion.”  68  Fed.  Reg.  66324  (2003).  The  code  also 
required  jurisdictional  companies,  when  they  provided
information  to  natural-gas  index  publishers,  to  “provide
accurate  and  factual  information,  and  not  knowingly 
submit  false  or  misleading  information  or  omit  material
information to any such publisher.”  Id., at 66337.  At the 
same  time,  FERC  issued  a  policy  statement  setting  forth
“minimum  standards  for  creation  and  publication  of  any