Faked Emails Favoring Dominion’s Scana Bid Spark State Probe

Authorities are investigating a flurry of allegedly phony emails sent to South Carolina lawmakers in support of Dominion Energy Inc.’s $7.9 billion takeover bid for troubled Scana Corp.

The form emails were made to look as though they were sent by South Carolina citizens and came via a website operated by Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a Houston-based trade group representing Dominion and other energy companies.

The alliance says it didn’t send the emails and that the names of some of the supposed senders were used without their permission. That could constitute fraud, according to Robert Kittle, a spokesman for ...