The US state of California has sued collapsed energy giant Enron, accusing it of massive market manipulation and fraud during a series of crippling power outages in 2000 and 2001.
The suit, filed by California's top legal official, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, seeks restitution, damages and the return of unjust profits that he said could total 'hundreds of millions of dollars'.
The complaint was filed in Alameda County Superior Court, near San Francisco, on behalf of the people of the state that almost ground to a halt amid a series of rolling power shortages during the crisis.
'At the same time this corrupt enterprise successfully lobbied its friends in the federal government to block price caps and blame California, it was robbing our businesses and consumers blind,' Lockyer said.
'Enron was the architect of a rip-off scheme that bled billions of dollars from our state's economy. They may be bankrupt, but we will hold them accountable,' he said.
The suit came less than three weeks after a series of recorded telephone conversation between Enron traders showed that the company deliberately starved the most populous US state of power in order to hike energy prices.
The apparent revelation of deliberate market manipulation at California's expense has national significance as top Enron official Kenneth Lay is a friend of President George W Bush, who said during the crisis that he would not cap California's skyrocketing energy prices.
