David Lee, a former natural gas trader for the Bank of Montreal, has paid a $500,000 fine to settle a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) lawsuit, Reuters reports. Lee was charged with mismarking and misvaluing natural gas options he traded for the bank, and then lying to the bank about the trading.

The CFTC charged Lee with mismarking his natural gas options positions between May 2003 and May 2007 and for misvaluing other natural gas options positions from October 2006 to May 2007. He inflated the value of the bank’s natural gas holdings by $221.9 million as of January 2007 and by $257.8 million at the end of March 2007.

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