Former CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp Charged with Land Lease Bid-Rigging

Chief Executive Officer of Chesapeake Energy Corp Aubrey McClendon was charged on Tuesday after the anti-trust probe that began in 2012 established that he had participated in land lease bid-rigging while the company was trying to buy oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma, as reported by DecaturDaily.com.

Trouble began for fracking king McClendon when Reuter’s Investigation found evidence that the company had been discussing with their rival certain techniques that would suppress prices of land leases in Michigan at a time when the district was experiencing a shale-drilling boom. This discovery led the Michigan Attorney General to slap criminal charges against the company which they settled by paying $25 million in 2015.

Even if you are responsible for low gas prices using private land, because the White House will not open up federal lands even if that would bring more oil online and create more jobs, you cannot break the law in this manner.

However, the Michigan episode opened the flood gates for another investigation when the investigators stumbled upon evidence that the company had engaged in big-rigging in Oklahoma. An anti-trust probe began soon after conducted by the Justice Department and the outcome was an indictment against Chesapeake Energy Corp CEO, say criminal defense lawyers closely following the case.

Even if you are employing thousands of Americans, creating low gas prices for Americans despite the White House’s chagrin, finally giving America some competition to OPEC, you cannot do these sorts of things.

McClendon, a resident of Oklahoma, was a legend in the oil drilling industry. He was a proponent of aggressive leasing strategies and the cofounder of Chesapeake along with Tom Ward which the established in 1989. Tom left the company in 2006 and McClendon stepped down as CEO in 2013 when the company ran into financial trouble. He was a member of AEP or American Energy Partners. His criminal defense attorney was not available for comment.

The Justice Department charged McClendon with conspiracy to rig land lease bids. In a statement following the criminal charges, McClendon said that the charge is unprecedented and wrong. Chesapeake had co-operated with the investigation and is unlikely to face any charges according to a spokesperson from the Justice Department.

McClendon Killed in Mysterious Accident

As reported by Bloomberg, McClendon was dead just 24 hours after the charges were filed. He is alleged to have given his security team the slip, got behind the wheel of his 2013 Chevy Tahoe and later drove it into a wall at high speed. Criminal defense lawyers say that this news spread like wildfire through not only Oklahoma City but as far away as Caracas (Venezuela) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Many are still struggling to make sense of what happened while the city’s police are yet to determine the cause of crash. 

Looks like suicide? It is only white collar crime. White collar criminals like this and Barney Frank are not punished enough or at all, respectively. McClendon certainly should not have committed these acts – apparently he thought no one would ever find out. This is what Hillary Clinton must have thought when she was handing out her password to some people and they were illegally declassifying information. She did not think anyone would find out?

McClendon did not receive a DUI, this was worse, but committing suicide is preposterous. That is a mortal sin.

Civil Case against Stalker Fetches TV Presenter $55 Million

For Erin Andrews justice was finally delivered when the jury read out their verdict and awarded her $55 million which is to be paid by her stalker Michael David Barrett, Nashville Marriot’s owner, and the management that ran the hotel. It was in 2008 that her nude snaps were taken by Barrett through a peephole. The case took 6 long years to reach its conclusion while the jury took seven hours to arrive at its verdict, as reported by Tennessean.com.

The jury in their verdict said that Barrett would pay 51% of $55 million while the remaining 49% will be paid by West End Hotel Partners and the Windsor Capital Group that managed the hotel. She had also named Marriott International in the lawsuit but the judge observed that the hotel conglomerate could be held liable for a security issue with a one of its local franchisees, which was what could be expected in such a case, say criminal defense lawyers.

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