Troubled energy maverick dies in fiery car crash
Death hours after indictment on charge of rigging oil leases
Aubrey McClendon, a maverick in the energy industry, died in a fiery single-car crash in Oklahoma City on Wednesday less than 24 hours after he was indicted for allegedly conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases.
The former CEO of Chesapeake Energy, forced to relin- quish his position in 2012 after a shareholder revolt led by activist investor Carl Icahn, built the company into the nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas and amassed enough wealth to become part owner of the Oklahoma Thunder basketball team. He was married to Whirlpool heiress Kathleen “Katie” Byrns McClendon, a relative of Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House committee on Energy and Commerce.
Chesapeake came under scrutiny after it was disclosed that McClendon, 56, had borrowed more than $1 billion against his personal stake in company wells. An internal review found no improper conduct. He got an exit package valued at more than $53 million, and in 2013, he founded American Energy Part- ners, an energy facility management company.
McClendon was known for his charity work and lavish lifestyle in Oklahoma City. He was part of a group that bought the Seattle SuperSonics and relocated the franchise to Oklahoma City. In 2007, the NBA fined McClendon $250,000 after he said, “We didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle. We hoped to come here.”
McClendon was driving on Midwest Boulevard in his SUV at a “high rate of speed” when he “went left of center” and hit the embankment wall of an overpass, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama said in a video on the department’s Facebook page. McClendon’s vehicle was engulfed in flames, Balderrama said.
Balderrama said there was “no indication” that McClendon tried to prevent the wreck, according to The Oklahoman.
The federal indictment alleged that McClendon hampered competition by orchestrating a conspiracy between two oil and gas firms to not bid against each other on certain leases in Oklahoma.
Tuesday, McClendon said the indictment was “wrong and unprecedented,” and he was “singled out.”