The Justice Department dropped its investigation of Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy on Thursday, but it remains unclear if it is the same probe that led to the indictment of the late Aubrey McClendon.
SandRidge revealed the DOJ decision in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was a simple one-sentence statement by the company.
“On April 14, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice notified the Company that it is no longer a subject or target of the previously reported grand jury investigation of possible violations of antitrust laws in the purchase or lease of land, oil, or natural gas rights from 2012 and prior years.”
There was no further statement from the company.
It was last May when word was made known that a federal grand jury was investigating the company for possible antitrust law violations. At the time, the company issued a brief statement, indicating it had been notified April 7, 2015 of the investigation.
“We are taking the matter very seriously and continue to work with the DOJ in the course of the investigation,” said Jeff Wilson, a vice president of government and public affairs for the company.
The investigation pertained to actions by the company before the ouster of chief executive officer Tom Ward by the company’s board in January 2013. At the time of the May 2015 revelation, it was known that Chesapeake Energy had also been under investigation by the same federal grand jury. The actions of Chesapeake and Sandridge Energy concerned leases prior to 2012 and ultimately led to last month’s indictment of former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, just a day before he was killed in a traffic crash in Oklahoma City. Federal prosecutors then dropped the charges against McClendon.
