Former CEO and founder of Chesapeake Energy, Aubrey McClendon got slapped with a federal indictment yesterday for collusion and bid rigging on oil and gas leases. This apparently took place with an unnamed OKC firm and no indictment has been handed down naming anyone else at this point.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/business/aubrey-mcclendon-is-charged-with-conspiracy-in-oil-and-natural-gas-bidding.html?_r=0
Text of the indictment is provided in this article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2016/03/01/the-federal-indictment-of-aubrey-mcclendon/#1431d0515143
Aubrey McClendon has been found dead after a single vehicle crash in OKC this morning. He was to appear before a judge today regarding the indictment handed down yesterday.
Quote
Oklahoma City police tweeted that the victim of a fatal single-vehicle wreck this morning was embattled oilman Aubrey McClendon.
Oklahoma City firefighters said earlier Wednesday that one person was found dead in a burned vehicle that had crashed on the city's northeast side.
District Fire Chief Benny Fulkerson said the person's body was found in the vehicle about 9 a.m. Wednesday after it crashed into a bridge.
McClendon, 56, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City on charges of conspiring to rig bids on oil and gas leases.
He was founder and CEO of Chesapeake Energy; he left the company in 2013 following a shareholder revolt.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/headlines/okc-police-embattled-oilman-aubrey-mcclendon-dies-in-single-vehicle/article_731f6017-0f7c-53c9-9a62-9dad73f0362f.html
Quote from: Conan71 on March 02, 2016, 02:08:03 PM
Aubrey McClendon has been found dead after a single vehicle crash in OKC this morning. He was to appear before a judge today regarding the indictment handed down yesterday.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/headlines/okc-police-embattled-oilman-aubrey-mcclendon-dies-in-single-vehicle/article_731f6017-0f7c-53c9-9a62-9dad73f0362f.html
Hmm. Suicide maybe?
Quote from: Hoss on March 02, 2016, 02:28:38 PM
Hmm. Suicide maybe?
Hate to speculate but high rate of speed and an abrupt left turn into a bridge abutment under I-44 on a fairly desolate stretch of N. Midwest Blvd sounds like a little more than an accident.
He issued a pretty steady denial of the indictment yesterday. Usually, you'd hear of this happening just prior to sentencing, not prior to a first hearing unless they were planning to take him into custody today.
Meanwhile, CHK stock is up .65 on the day.
Frickin' coward.
Quote from: Hoss on March 02, 2016, 02:28:38 PM
Hmm. Suicide maybe?
High speed impact, no skid marks, crossed center line, supposedly not wearing a seat belt? Nah, he was trying to text and change the song on his iPod..........
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on March 02, 2016, 02:41:03 PM
Frickin' coward.
Or sad/overwhelmed, hopeless...any number of things.
It does make you wonder who the other big name company co-conspirator is.
Quote from: dbacksfan 2.0 on March 02, 2016, 03:01:43 PM
It does make you wonder who the other big name company co-conspirator is.
The other biggest player in shale is Hamm. Could it be him?
Quote from: swake on March 02, 2016, 03:28:50 PM
The other biggest player in shale is Hamm. Could it be him?
Tom Ward and Aubrey started Chesapeake together. One article I read said Ward was the CEO at Sandridge during that period.
Quote from: Townsend on March 02, 2016, 02:49:56 PM
Or sad/overwhelmed, hopeless...any number of things.
Probably. Maybe I would be sad too if I got caught using my multi-billion dollar multi-national company as my personal "sandbox" and someone told me no, ya can't do that!
Not gonna have to much sympathy for someone who acted the spoiled little rich brat, then didn't stand for the consequences when caught with his hand in the cookie jar! I have had very few occasions where anyone has cut me any slack for comparatively tiny smaller things, so I gotta go with George Carlin's thought process. Awww....poor little rich boy doesn't wanna play fair... Fill in the blank with what Carlin would say.
He is a coward.
Channeling my inner Donald Trump....
Did a lot of good and just as much bad. Interesting guy for sure.
Quote from: swake on March 02, 2016, 03:28:50 PM
The other biggest player in shale is Hamm. Could it be him?
Quote from: Conan71 on March 02, 2016, 03:44:48 PM
Tom Ward and Aubrey started Chesapeake together. One article I read said Ward was the CEO at Sandridge during that period.
Article in Bloomberg this evening claims three different sources who say it's Sand Ridge.
Quote from: Conan71 on March 02, 2016, 02:40:15 PM
Hate to speculate but high rate of speed and an abrupt left turn into a bridge abutment under I-44 on a fairly desolate stretch of N. Midwest Blvd sounds like a little more than an accident.
Silkwooded?
Bid rigging can't be one sided. But its very nature, that's just not possible. Others are going down old Rt 66 in the near future.
Quote from: patric on March 02, 2016, 10:59:38 PM
Silkwooded?
First thing I thought. 40 MPH isn't that fast.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on March 03, 2016, 08:08:33 AM
Bid rigging can't be one sided. But its very nature, that's just not possible. Others are going down old Rt 66 in the near future.
Hopefully.
Maybe they can stop the bus at Pops and then a quick tour of the Round Barn in Arcadia!! Then off to prison!!
Quote from: carltonplace on March 03, 2016, 08:36:17 AM
First thing I thought. 40 MPH isn't that fast.
Wow, it looks like a lot more impact than 40 MPH.
(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/160302152040-former-ceo-killed-in-car-crash2-780x439.jpg)
Looks more like 70+
Captain Paco Balderrama said McClendon was traveling at "well above" the 40 mile per hour speed limit before he "pretty much drove straight into the wall."
There was probably no shortage of people who wanted to "Silkwood" him, it would have happened long before now. To do so after the Feds announced an indictment would be pretty much senseless.
Self inflicted.
Un-named co-conspirator (Sand Ridge) has just been sued along with Chesapeake:
http://kfor.com/2016/03/03/federal-class-action-civil-lawsuit-filed-against-chesapeake-sandridge/
Some of the allegations bear out behavior on McClendon's part which were similar to Tom Kivisto's that tanked SEM group by doing side trades to manipulate the gas market.
The more I read about McClendon's career, I ask myself: "When is enough wealth enough?"
He was going 90....
Quote from: Conan71 on March 03, 2016, 11:44:36 PM
The more I read about McClendon's career, I ask myself: "When is enough wealth enough?"
Not to turn this conversation too far left... but:
There are 200,000 people in the world with a net worth above $30 mil (70,000 of those in the US, 5000 Americans have more than $100 mil). Those people experienced 7% wealth growth last year. There are 2,300 people with more than $1 Billion. Those people experienced wealth growth of 12 % last year. Everyone else lost wealth in the aggregate. Those ultra high net worth individuals ($30mil+) control ~$30,000,000,000,000.00 in wealth. Or about 12% of all the wealth in the world. Drop the bar to $1mil net worth, and that .7% owns 50% of all wealth in the world.
For many people, the answer to how much wealth is enough is "more." And many will lie, cheat, and steal to get it. Even if the consequence is losing your company, respect, facing criminal charges, and even death. Just a billion more is all I need.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on March 04, 2016, 08:02:45 AM
Not to turn this conversation too far left... but:
There are 200,000 people in the world with a net worth above $30 mil (70,000 of those in the US, 5000 Americans have more than $100 mil). Those people experienced 7% wealth growth last year. There are 2,300 people with more than $1 Billion. Those people experienced wealth growth of 12 % last year. Everyone else lost wealth in the aggregate. Those ultra high net worth individuals ($30mil+) control ~$30,000,000,000,000.00 in wealth. Or about 12% of all the wealth in the world. Drop the bar to $1mil net worth, and that .7% owns 50% of all wealth in the world.
For many people, the answer to how much wealth is enough is "more." And many will lie, cheat, and steal to get it. Even if the consequence is losing your company, respect, facing criminal charges, and even death. Just a billion more is all I need.
To continue the drift...
This topic came up in grad school, which was thirty years ago now, but the study was done by simply asking people "do you have enough money?". If I recall, the 50/50 split (where greater than 50 percent said yes they had enough money) was about $30M in wealth. Curious what the number would be today.
Much as Tom Kivisto was a degenerate gambler, Aubrey seemed to have a shopping problem of sorts. With really, really high credit limits:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-chesapeake-mcclendon-profile-idUSBRE8560IB20120607
Careful, long read!
I think his net worth was probably equal to what Bill Bartmann's was at the height of CFS- largely over-stated because he was so heavily leveraged in everything.
But he was driving a three year old Tahoe? I'd at least go the Arrow Trucking route and get me an exotic...Ferrari, Maserati...Aston...
Anyway, are we sure that was him? Couldn't have been much left. Poor soul.
I had a professor in college who taught accounting whose past life was an oil company exec. We talked about price fixing and collusion because it was topical even then. He casually remarked that when execs from different companies drink, play golf, travel and do business with each other in hopes of making sure they have another potential employer lined up, that the question of collusion becomes fuzzy. He said everyone he knew discussed pricing details without hesitation. Its slippery on those slopes!
Sad for his family. They most likely didn't deserve to be put through any of this.
As for making millions, well that can be done legitimately. Probably even tens of millions. When you get to hundreds of millions, the lines blur. When you have a billion or more, there has been illegal activity involved.
With the possible exception of lottery winners - and the immoral activity there is the lottery itself, by the state.
Quote from: AquaMan on March 04, 2016, 10:37:36 AM
Anyway, are we sure that was him? Couldn't have been much left. Poor soul.
The only way to fake a death is when there's no body to be found.
More on 40 mph....even without seat belts, the would likely be survivable even without seat belts just due to air bags. Painful, but survivable...
Quote from: BKDotCom on March 04, 2016, 08:52:33 PM
The only way to fake a death is when there's no body to be found.
Or someone else's body burned beyond recognition. Just trying to start the inevitable conspiracy theory.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on March 07, 2016, 09:25:09 AM
More on 40 mph....even without seat belts, the would likely be survivable even without seat belts just due to air bags. Painful, but survivable...
40 mph frontal impact is like falling off a 5 story building - inflating an airbag on the ground at the last moment would certainly make it "survivable," but statistically I'm not sure your odds are better than 50/50. It sure would suck.
Per the conspiracy theory - DNA and dental records are easy to confirm. Add in wedding rings, cell phone signals, etc. Weak conspiracy theory.
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/Gf2gs1q
He wasn't going 40....Upwards of 90......
Quote from: cannon_fodder on March 07, 2016, 10:09:31 AM
40 mph frontal impact is like falling off a 5 story building - inflating an airbag on the ground at the last moment would certainly make it "survivable," but statistically I'm not sure your odds are better than 50/50. It sure would suck.
Per the conspiracy theory - DNA and dental records are easy to confirm. Add in wedding rings, cell phone signals, etc. Weak conspiracy theory.
No, but it does leave open sabotage (i.e. stuck throttle, cut brake lines, drugged) theories which would be great fodder for any number of true crime shows.
Quote from: Breadburner on March 07, 2016, 10:21:43 AM
He wasn't going 40....Upwards of 90......
Here is an assortment of 40 mph crashes. His car definitely going faster! Seems like a lot of fire, too, for some reason... Was that a GM vehicle??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk5cp93zefk
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on March 07, 2016, 12:21:18 PM
Here is an assortment of 40 mph crashes. His car definitely going faster! Seems like a lot of fire, too, for some reason... Was that a GM vehicle??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk5cp93zefk
Tahoe. And it was burning CNG. The initial fire was likely CNG burning off the line then the fuel tank eventually blew.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aubrey-mcclendon-bet-big-finance-233800421.html
Quote from: Breadburner on March 08, 2016, 09:08:25 PM
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aubrey-mcclendon-bet-big-finance-233800421.html
(http://pipelineobserver.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/house-of-cards.jpg)
No doubt...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-09/death-of-a-shale-man-the-final-days-of-aubrey-mcclendon?cmpid=yhoo.headline
According to the OKCPD, the Tahoe's black box says 88 MPH 5 seconds prior to impact. It also shows the brakes were "tapped" but he made no attempt to jam on the brakes. Sounds like he might have been having second thoughts up to the end.
Quote from: Conan71 on March 14, 2016, 01:53:18 PM
According to the OKCPD, the Tahoe's black box says 88 MPH 5 seconds prior to impact. It also shows the brakes were "tapped" but he made no attempt to jam on the brakes. Sounds like he might have been having second thoughts up to the end.
So he went back to the future.....???
Quote from: Breadburner on March 14, 2016, 03:34:19 PM
So he went back to the future.....???
Damn flux capacitor
Reading the car data record, he was traveling 78 mph at impact. Down from 88 to 90 mph a short time before the crash.
Quote from: cannon_fodder on March 07, 2016, 10:09:31 AM
DNA and dental records are easy to confirm. Add in wedding rings, cell phone signals, etc. Weak conspiracy theory.
Authorities could not identify McClendon's body at the scene of the crash but used dental records to get an identification. Investigators found his name in the back of a pair of pants to provide an initial identification.
Quote from: heironymouspasparagus on March 15, 2016, 01:57:25 PM
Reading the car data record, he was traveling 78 mph at impact. Down from 88 to 90 mph a short time before the crash.
They attributed that to the soft soil on the side of the road in the presser yesterday.
Quote from: Conan71 on March 15, 2016, 03:03:09 PM
They attributed that to the soft soil on the side of the road in the presser yesterday.
Well, it sucks that he felt backed into the kind of corner that would lead him down that path - especially for his family!! Sucks just as bad that he backed himself into the kind of corner that would lead him down that path.
Looks like McClendon's dealings may take another company down as well.
QuoteThe terms outlined in the April 2013 pitch, obtained by Bloomberg, were so favorable to McClendon, however, that most investors turned him down, according to people familiar with the response.
After some haggling, one of the few that accepted was Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Energy & Minerals Group, the firm led by Raymond, son of former Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Lee Raymond.
Though there's still time to salvage the bets, much — if not all — of the estimated $2.6 billion that an EMG fund put into a half-dozen enterprises set up by McClendon's American Energy Partners LP could be lost, according to Carin Dehne-Kiley, a Standard & Poor's credit analyst who tracks three of the four biggest ventures. Side bets by EMG investors added hundreds of millions of dollars to that figure, said two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. That, too, is at risk.
"There's a good chance these guys will default in the next 12 months," barring an oil-price rebound, Dehne-Kiley said of the EMG-backed American Energy Partners ventures that she tracks.
http://www.expressnews.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/McClendon-left-his-biggest-backer-with-billions-6931926.php (http://www.expressnews.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/McClendon-left-his-biggest-backer-with-billions-6931926.php)
Medical Examiner rules it was an accident.
http://kfor.com/2016/06/08/medical-examiner-aubrey-mcclendons-death-an-accident/ (http://kfor.com/2016/06/08/medical-examiner-aubrey-mcclendons-death-an-accident/)
Quote from: dbacksfan 2.0 on June 08, 2016, 12:06:53 PM
Medical Examiner rules it was an accident.
Silkwood...China Syndrome...he never got a chance to bring the files...
Quote from: Townsend on June 08, 2016, 12:48:30 PM
Silkwood...China Syndrome...he never got a chance to bring the files...
Guess they don't have to worry that life insurance policy won't pay off now that it's ruled an "accident".
Quote from: dbacksfan 2.0 on June 08, 2016, 02:07:34 PM
Guess they don't have to worry that life insurance policy won't pay off now that it's ruled an "accident".
Oklahoma has a two year exclusion on suicide in policies written here, wonder if he'd taken out a rather large one not long before the "accident". Considering how far in debt he was reputed to be, that may have been his only option to keep his family afloat. It's a shame he didn't see any other way out.
I never realized what a fire plug he was at 63" tall and 194# according to the autopsy.
Quote from: dbacksfan 2.0 on June 08, 2016, 12:06:53 PM
Medical Examiner rules it was an accident.
http://kfor.com/2016/06/08/medical-examiner-aubrey-mcclendons-death-an-accident/ (http://kfor.com/2016/06/08/medical-examiner-aubrey-mcclendons-death-an-accident/)
(https://media.giphy.com/media/Fml0fgAxVx1eM/giphy.gif)
(https://i.imgflip.com/15k37z.jpg) (https://imgflip.com/i/15k37z)
Quote from: Conan71 on June 08, 2016, 02:31:53 PM
I never realized what a fire plug he was at 6'3" tall and 194# according to the autopsy.
FTFY :)
As a commercial driver I see lots of drivers displaying suicidal behaviour everyday. Speeding, driving one handed with a phone to their ear, swerving lanes without signals, ignorant of driving rules, eating, smoking and under the influence. I do not find it curious that a stressed oil man under indictment might have lost control of his vehicle because of any of these behaviors. Its also just as likely that he momentarily yielded to that stress, but there is no evidence to indicate it was suicide. Its weird to see so much enmity and conspiracy over this guy. Rich guy exposed as subject to the same greed and incompetence as the general population. Nothing new here.
Quote from: Conan71 on June 09, 2016, 11:56:31 AM
Nope, autopsy report claims 63".
From the same Oklahoma ME's office making national news about funding and missed accreditation?
Quote from: Townsend on June 09, 2016, 12:09:28 PM
From the same Oklahoma ME's office making national news about funding and missed accreditation?
Yep, same one. Of course with the open thigh fractures, he might have been somewhat truncated.
Quote from: AquaMan on June 09, 2016, 11:44:34 AM
As a commercial driver I see lots of drivers displaying suicidal behaviour everyday. Speeding, driving one handed with a phone to their ear, swerving lanes without signals, ignorant of driving rules, eating, smoking and under the influence. I do not find it curious that a stressed oil man under indictment might have lost control of his vehicle because of any of these behaviors. Its also just as likely that he momentarily yielded to that stress, but there is no evidence to indicate it was suicide. Its weird to see so much enmity and conspiracy over this guy. Rich guy exposed as subject to the same greed and incompetence as the general population. Nothing new here.
We all see potential Darwin Award winners driving every day, but they are not under investigation that could lead to prison time and their family losing everything.
Timing and perception. 24 hours after being indicted just give the impression that he took the easy way out. He just didn't swallow his gun, hang himself, or do a sidewalk swan dive. He wouldn't be the first, and wouldn't be the last.