River North lawyer to help sort out North Carolina utility controversy

1-Aug-12 – The North Carolina Utilities Commission has hired the chairman of River North’s Jenner & Block to help figure out if the commission was misled in a deal that created the largest electric company in the United States.

Anton R. Valukas (left), a former United States Attorney, will try to find out what happened before regulators approved a takeover in July by Duke Energy Corporation of Progress Energy Inc., two Fortune 500 companies serving 7.1 million customers in six states.

Throughout the 18-month process, Duke Energy told regulators William D. Johnson would be the CEO of the company. But within hours of the deal concluding, the Duke Energy board of directors fired Johnson. That led to Standard & Poor’s lowering Duke Energy’s credit rating. The company’s stock price slipped as well.

Both Jenner & Block and the North Carolina Utilities Commission made the announcement on Wednesday.

In 2009, Valukas was the court-appointed examiner in the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. In 1993, a group that included Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg and Marina Towers Condominium Association hired him to scrutinize the sale of Marina City’s commercial property to John L. Marks.