Former gas trader admits to insider fraud

A former natural-gas trader from Katy has pleaded guilty for his role in an insider-trading scheme that generated nearly a million dollars.

John Ed James, 51, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, according to a news release.

As part of his guilty plea, James said he worked with others from 2013 to 2016 to use nonpublic information to make pre-arranged trades in natural gas futures contracts.

The group made about $966,000, James said. He also admitted to hiding the source of the income from the IRS, the government said.

The FBI’s Houston Field Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Houston Field Office conducted the investigation.

Sentencing has been scheduled for April 26.

“That executives continue to use inside nonpublic information for their own gain, illustrates that prosecutors must investigate and pursue these cases,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick said in the release. “These conspirators cooked the books and shared the loot — plain and simple.”