The actions that resulted in former Chesapeake Energy Corp. chief Aubrey McClendon’s indictment aren’t uncommon across the shale patch, lawyers and analysts said.
McClendon was charged Tuesday with allegedly violating antitrust laws known as the Sherman Act by coordinating a scheme in which two companies didn’t bid against each other for oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma. He died in a car crash in Oklahoma City the next day.
Energy magnate T.Boone Pickens has paid tribute to the former boss of Chesapeake who died on a one-car crash a day after he was charged with conspiring to rig bids for oil leases.
The natural gas explorer who allegedly conspired with the late Aubrey McClendon to rig drilling auctions was Tom Ward, then chairman and chief executive officer of SandRidge Energy Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
