Recently indicted ex-CEO of Chesapeake Energy dies in high speed crash, possible suicide.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Aubrey McClendon, a founder and former chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, died in a car crash Wednesday at age 56, a day after he was charged with conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases.

McClendon crashed into an embankment while traveling at a "high rate of speed" in Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning, said Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City Police Department. McClendon's vehicle was engulfed in flame, he said.

"He pretty much drove straight into the wall," Balderrama said.

Snip
The alleged conspiracy took place between December 2007 and March 2012, the indictment said. The companies are accused of deciding who would win the bids, then giving an interest in the leases to the other company. The Justice Department did not say which other company it believes was involved in the alleged scheme.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/02/ex-chesapeake-ceo-mcclendon-dies-in-car-wreck-day-after-indictment.html

see pic at link

[gratuitous]

1. Never read the comments

I don't know all the ins and outs of this, but it would be a hard man indeed who didn't have someone to troll for him on the internets.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Obviously suicide. No way is that a simple coincidence (nt)

[truebluegreen]

3. Hmmm. R.I.P.

That said, it would be nice if DoJ could find a few others to indict. I could suggest some.

[BernieforPres2016]

4. McClendon was truly a corrupt scumbag

In 2008, he wiped himself out financially by borrowing a huge amount of money against his stock in Chesapeake Energy. When the stock started sliding, the banks holding the stock started selling huge chunks to pay off his margin loans. Within a matter of days, the stock price collapsed as all of McClendon's stock had to be sold. My recollection is that his stock was worth about $2 billion at its peak. Shortly after McClendon was wiped out, his handpicked Board of Directors handed McClendon an enormous wad of Chesapeake stock.

McClendon was part of the group that purchased the Seattle Supersonics NBA team. When they bought it, they promised that the team would remain in Seattle. Within a couple of years, the team had been moved to Oklahoma City.

I am not going to cheer his death but I am not going to shed any tears over it either.