(Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission has stepped up its enforcement efforts, filing 25percent more cases in 2009 than in the previous fiscal year andcollecting $280 million in fines.

Here are some of the largest and most prominent fineslevied by the CFTC for violations of U.S. commodity tradingregulations:

2010

* Vitol SA: $6 million to settle charges thattwo of its affiliates mislead the New York Mercantile Exchangeabout their close relationship, making it difficult to applytrading rules to the firm. [ID:nN1497847]

* Moore Capital Management: $25 million for attempting tomanipulate settlement prices of platinum and palladiumfutures.

* Morgan Stanley Capital Group : $14 million forconcealing a large block crude oil trade at settlement[ID:nN29237831]

* ConAgra Trade Group Inc: $12 million for causing anartificial crude oil price to be reported in a race to be firstto trade oil at $100 in January 2008 [ID:nN16228544]

2009

* MF Global : $10 million fine for failing tosupervise employee trading and maintain an adequate complianceprogram.

* Amaranth Advisors: $7.5 million for attempting tomanipulate NYMEX natural gas futures.

2008

* Dairy Farmers of America and two former executives: $12million for attempting to manipulate milk futures and exceedingspeculative position limits

* Energy Transfer Partners : $10 million forattempting to manipulate natural gas prices at the Houston ShipChannel delivery hub

2007

* BP Plc <BP.N>: $303 million to settle charges ofmanipulating propane markets; a record fine for the CFTC

* MF Global and employee Thomas Gilmartin: $77 million formishandling hedge fund accounts

2005

* American Electric Power : $30 million forreporting false natural gas trading information

2004

* Enron Corp: $35 million for manipulating the natural gasmarket and operating an unregistered futures exchange forlumber futures

* Coral Energy Resources: $30 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* Aquila Inc subsidiary: $26.5 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* Xcel Energy : $16 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* Mirant Corp : $12.5 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* First West Trading and its owner, former New York FuturesExchange chairman Norman Eisler: $4.9 million for manipulatingP-Tech options contracts traded on the NYFE

2003

* Duke Energy Trading and Marketing : $28 millionfor reporting false natural gas trading information

* El Paso Corp trading unit: $20 million forreporting false natural gas trading information

* Williams Companies : $20 million for reportingfalse natural gas trading information

* EnCana Corp : $20 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* Reliant Energy Services: $18 million for reporting falsenatural gas trading information

* CMS Marketing: $16 million for reporting false naturalgas trading information

1999

* Merrill Lynch: $15 million for helping Sumitomo Corpmanipulate the global copper market

* Refco Inc: $7 million for order-taking and record-keepingviolations involving treasury bond futures and optionscontracts, and for failing to supervise employees

1998

* Sumitomo Corp: $150 million after its chief copper tradertried to manipulate copper prices to cover trading losses in1995-96

1989

* Nelson and William Hunt: $10 million for attempting tocorner world silver markets in 1979-80, which caused silverprices to spike to almost $50 from $11 an ounce five monthsearlier

SOURCE: CFTC

(Washington commodities desk, +202 898 8376)