The U.S. Justice Department has indicted Oklahoma oilman Aubrey McClendon, accusing him of conspiring to rig bids for the purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma. Now CEO of American Energy Partners in Oklahoma City, McClendon was co-founder and chief executive officer of Chesapeake Energy Corp. when he allegedly orchestrated a scheme between two large oil and gas companies to not bid against each other for leases, according to the statement from the DOJ.
The government said that from December 2007 to March 2012, McClendon and the others decided ahead of time who would win the leases and the winning bidder would than allocate an interest in the leases to the other company. The other companies are not defendants in the indictment and the DOJ only identified them as Company A and Company B. However, the alleged Company A is believed to be Chesapeake Energy because the government statement and indictment indicated that McClendon was chief executive officer, president and a director of the Company A until March 2012. Company B was only identified as a firm located in Oklahoma City.
McClendon did not make any comment in response to the indictment. He co-founded Chesapeake Energy in 1989 and left after he was accused of potential conflicts of interest. In 2012, McClendon was also accused of other allegations including the use of corporate planes for non-business related travel for his family and friends and the use of company employees for personal work. He stepped down as chairman in June 2012 then resigned as CEO on April 1, 2013. Chesapeake filed suit against him one year ago, accusing him of misappropriating company data on available land as he left the company and formed American Energy Partners.
It’s not the first time McClendon was accused of wrongdoing involving bids and land leases. Chesapeake Energy, under his leadership was charged along with Encana Corp of colluding to keep oil and gas lease prices artificially low in Michigan in March of 2014. State Attorney General Bill Schuette filed the charges after a lengthy investigation was started by his office in 2012. Both Chesapeake and Encana denied the allegations at the time.
