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Aubrey McClendon Indicted for Lease Bid Rigging

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Aubrey McClendon has been indicted on charges of conspiring to rig bids for purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma, according to a report from Bloomberg.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, the alleged conspirators decided ahead of time who would win the leases and the winning bidder would then allocate an interest in the leases to the other company, the government said. The companies, which aren’t defendants in the case, are identified in the indictment as Company A and Company B.

Response to Indictment

Today, Aubrey McClendon released the following response to the indictment: "The charge that has been filed against me today is wrong and unprecedented. I have been singled out as the only person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years since the Sherman Act became law to have been accused of this crime in relation to joint bidding on leasehold.  Anyone who knows me, my business record and the industry in which I have worked for 35 years, knows that I could not be guilty of violating any antitrust laws.  All my life I have worked to create jobs in Oklahoma, grow its economy, and to provide abundant and affordable energy to all Americans. I am proud of my track record in this industry, and I will fight to prove my innocence and to clear my name."

McClendon's lead lawyers Abbe Lowell of Chadbourne & Parke and Emmet Flood of Williams & Connolly responded with the following statement:  "The Justice Department has taken business practices well-known in the Oklahoma and American energy industries that were intended to, and did in fact, enhance competition and lower energy costs and twisted these business practices to allege an antitrust violation that did not occur.  In response to criticism of their past charging practices and in the name of a new policy to be tough on individuals, the prosecutors have wrongfully singled out Aubrey McClendon and have wrongly charged an innocent man.  A charge is one thing.  Proving the case is another.  Starting today, Aubrey gets his day in court where we will show that this prosecutorial overreach was completely unjustified."