DOMINION HOPE ACCUSED OF PRICE-FIXING SCHEME

(09/02/2005)
Dominion Hope is being accused of a pricing scheme that manipulated the natural gas market.

A former employee is accusing Dominion, its parent company and two managers of falsifying natural gas transactions in a scheme to manipulate regulators in West Virginia and two other states.

Paul Kroll made the allegations in a lawsuit filed yesterday in Harrison County Circuit Court against Clarksburg-based Dominion Hope, its Richmond, Virginia-based parent Dominion Resources, and managers William E. McKeown and Ronald D. Walther.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Kroll who formerly served as Dominion Hope's manager of pricing and regulatory affairs, says he objected to the scheme when he became aware of it and refused to participate.

He resigned in February, 2005 after what he calls serious and intolerable working conditions.

Kroll's lawsuit alleges that the scheme was conducted from about 1995 through 2003.

The company has yet to respond to the suit.