Aubrey McClendon

[gopokes88]

Someone brought this up and I thought it was an interesting perspective...

If the gov had Aubrey nailed to the wall and he knew it, there wold have been catastrophic financial consequences.

He always operated on the edge and you have to believe with the current price of oil and gas he was struggling with AEP.

Who knows about prison but you can be sure there would have been huge fines involved if convicted and that all his current investors would be running for cover and to distance themselves from him.

Dying may have been the only way to save his family from financial ruin.

I'll try to find the article I read but it speculated that he would plead out pay some fines but have a felony on his record. AEP would invoke all the morality clauses fire him and he'd be locked out of any new funding in the future. It'd be a scarlet letter and he would be untouchable the rest of his life. He'd have to go all the way to trial and fight to get a not guilty verdict. IF the crash was suicide it would point to him knowing he was toast

[AP]

Sounds like as of the end of February he had also lost control of AEP.

McClendon Backer Said to Cut Ties Before Grand Jury Indictment

One of Aubrey McClendon’s biggest financial backers was cutting ties with him in the days before he was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on conspiracy charges, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Energy & Minerals Group, a private-equity firm led by John Raymond, was working on a plan to be completely independent of McClendon by the end of the month, and as of Feb. 26 the shale pioneer no longer had a leadership role at any of the companies created by the firm and McClendon’s American Energy Partners LP, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private investments. McClendon, 56, died in a car accident Wednesday, a day after the indictment was announced.
McClendon had raised more than $10 billion for American Energy Partners from Energy & Minerals and others after being fired from Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 2013. His new company, for which he served as chairman and CEO, created numerous limited liability corporations to crack oil and natural gas from shale rocks, a production method that had helped Chesapeake’s market value soar to more than $35 billion.
Renzi Stone, an outside spokesman for American Energy, didn’t return two phone messages left Wednesday. McClendon was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 1, accused of working with another company to depress the price of drilling rights in Oklahoma. Prior to his death, he said he would fight the charges.
Chesapeake Magic
McClendon sought to recreate his Chesapeake magic through American Energy Partners, a closely held entity based near the seat of his former empire in northeast Oklahoma City. Chesapeake had once held 15 million acres of drilling rights and was the second-largest U.S. gas producer. The company’s market value has plunged as the industry’s success in producing shale gas resulted in a glut of the fuel.
McClendon’s new venture amassed drilling rights on hundreds of thousands of acres, including taking positions as far flung as Australia and Argentina.
The collapse in commodity prices darkened the outlook for McClendon’s ability to pay returns to his investors. Bonds sold by some American Energy entities have plunged to 15 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Junk Bonds
One of the many units formed as part of the venture, American Energy – Permian Basin LLC, lured junk-bond investors in November with one of the highest yields in the U.S. market last year. The unit sold $530 million of notes at par to yield 13 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s $30 million less than the bond sale it attempted in October as investors demanded yields exceeding 10 percent from the struggling oil and gas producer.
McClendon’s role at American Energy Partners had begun to change in January 2015, when a lieutenant became CEO of one of the units, American Energy Appalachia Holdings LLC. Before his death, McClendon had agreed not to seek a board seat on any of the ventures he’d formed with Energy & Minerals, including Ascent Resources LLC, Traverse Midstream Partners LLC and four other companies, one of the people familiar said. The timing of those moves was not based on the indictment, the person said.
McClendon had no management roles in companies that First Reserve Corp., another private-equity backer, invested in, according to another person familiar with the matter.

McClendon Backer Said to Cut Ties Before Grand Jury Indictment - Bloomberg Business

It looks like a lot of people owe someone an apology.

Word "on the street" is AEP will effectively cease to exist within a matter of weeks. Aubrey's private equity partners are pulling out, resulting in the various parts of the company being spun off on their own, according to a source who works there.

[foodiefan]

Agreed -- it is strange for a man of his circumstances to ever find himself East of Broadway Extension.

But a buddy of mine (with decent knowledge about AKM) claims that he had some sort of orchard on that side of town, which he often frequented.

Huge tree farm. . .see # 169

[Jersey Boss]

I'll try to find the article I read but it speculated that he would plead out pay some fines but have a felony on his record. AEP would invoke all the morality clauses fire him and he'd be locked out of any new funding in the future. It'd be a scarlet letter and he would be untouchable the rest of his life. He'd have to go all the way to trial and fight to get a not guilty verdict. IF the crash was suicide it would point to him knowing he was toast

Speculation on pleading out to avoid prison time is just that. Judges also have to accept the deal. Martha Stewart was sent to prison not for financial impropriety but for the offense of lying to federal agents. The current AG came into office with the DoJ having been accused of being soft on executive crimes by allowing defendants to pay fines and not serve anytime. I think with this new interest by the DoJ to go after this sort of crime it would have negated a sweetheart deal.

[jn1780]

We don't know what his schedule was like so we can't really speculate. I'm sure his security team and family knows whether or not going to his tree farm that time of day was normal or not. They of course would keep quiet out of respect.

[Pete]

The current AG came into office with the DoJ having been accused of being soft on executive crimes by allowing defendants to pay fines and not serve anytime. I think with this new interest by the DoJ to go after this sort of crime it would have negated a sweetheart deal.

Excellent points and you have to think that played into this.

It's sounding more and more like Aubrey was in very serious criminal trouble and knew it.

[gopokes88]

Speculation on pleading out to avoid prison time is just that. Judges also have to accept the deal. Martha Stewart was sent to prison not for financial impropriety but for the offense of lying to federal agents. The current AG came into office with the DoJ having been accused of being soft on executive crimes by allowing defendants to pay fines and not serve anytime. I think with this new interest by the DoJ to go after this sort of crime it would have negated a sweetheart deal.

Maybe but him being singled out and the only executive charged under the Sherman suggests they were reaching to hit him with something. A guilty plea would establish precedent, no plea Aubrey takes it to trial and gets a not guilty verdict (you thought oj had a legal dream team?) good luck ever doing that again.

[Jersey Boss]

We don't know what his schedule was like so we can't really speculate. I'm sure his security team and family knows whether or not going to his tree farm that time of day was normal or not. They of course would keep quiet out of respect.

There was no speculation on his security team as they reported him missing to the OKCPD.

[Pete]

This seems to have been missed but my understanding is that Aubrey owns a second home out at Lake Arcadia and he was likely coming from there and heading towards work.

[Jersey Boss]

Maybe but him being singled out and the only executive charged under the Sherman suggests they were reaching to hit him with something. A guilty plea would establish precedent, no plea Aubrey takes it to trial and gets a not guilty verdict (you thought oj had a legal dream team?) good luck ever doing that again.

You do know the odds of that right? (> 90 % conviction rate) You also have to get the judge to buy off on a plea. U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron had a case come back for not giving prison time to Mike Morgan. I believe that case coming back sent a message to the US Attorney's and more importantly the federal bench.

[Will]

This seems to have been missed but my understanding is that Aubrey owns a second home out at Lake Arcadia and he was likely coming from there and heading towards work.

Not if he was driving north. From where the crash occurred, North would be heading toward Arcadia

[gopokes88]

You do know the odds of that right? You also have to get the judge to buy off on a plea. U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron had a case come back for not giving prison time to Mike Morgan. I believe that case coming back sent a message to the US Attorney's and more importantly the federal bench.

A high profile generally well liked businessman who would likely assemble one of the best legal teams for his defense and the charges on relatively shaky ground? Id put it at 50/50.

you don't know how precedent works do you? They took a risk charging him using the Sherman act how that case turns out establishes precedent for all future cases. He gets off and you can't use it anymore, he'd plea out to avoid a trial, and they would off one to get a guarenteed win.

[Pete]

Not if he was driving north. From where the crash occurred, North would be heading toward Arcadia

Ah, for some reason I thought he was headed south.

[Anonymous.]

Plus I really doubt he would be going to work less than 24 hours after being indicted. I think he knew this road, he knew this bridge, and he knew what he was doing.

[Pete]

Yeah, why would he be driving out to Lake Arcadia at 9AM on a business day?

I'm sure many more details will come out that explain where he started the trip and where they think he might have been going.

[Pete]

Here is the bridge heading north...

Someone said that if it was intentional he wouldn't have veered left of center and merely hit the bridge on the right side of the road.

But as you can see here, there was no way to hit the right side squarely:

[gopokes88]

Here is the bridge heading north...

Someone said that if it was intentional he wouldn't have veered left of center and merely hit the bridge on the right side of the road.

But as you can see here, there was no way to hit the right side squarely:

Lets say he's texting drops his phone in the passenger seat leans over to grab it and veers left. Reaching right often cause someone to drift left.

The vehicles black box could help piece it together.

If he is going 60 and then about 200 yards before the bridge starts to floor it, suicide.
If he was going a consistent 100mph+, maybe suicide, maybe accident, maybe heart attack.
If he hit the brakes, maybe accident or maybe suicide with second thoughts.

[Jersey Boss]

A high profile generally well liked businessman who would likely assemble one of the best legal teams for his defense and the charges on relatively shaky ground? Id put it at 50/50.

you don't know how precedent works do you? They took a risk charging him using the Sherman act how that case turns out establishes precedent for all future cases. He gets off and you can't use it anymore, he'd plea out to avoid a trial, and they would off one to get a guarenteed win.

Just curious as to how you would know how shaky the grounds were, Did you have access to all the discovery in this case? Yeah I know how precedent works and I also know Kenneth Lay had a dream team at his disposal in Texas. How did that work out?

[Jersey Boss]

Lets say he's texting drops his phone in the passenger seat leans over to grab it and veers left. Reaching right often cause someone to drift left.

The vehicles black box could help piece it together.

If he is going 60 and then about 200 yards before the bridge starts to floor it, suicide.
If he was going a consistent 100mph+, maybe suicide, maybe accident, maybe heart attack.
If he hit the brakes, maybe accident or maybe suicide with second thoughts.

The police reported no skid marks, hence no hitting the brakes.

[Drake]

If you are wanting to be in violent accident that is the best bridge to do it. That is solid concrete in a not heavily traveled area.

If reports are true, the fact that he took a CNG vehicle, slipped away from his security team two hours before appearing before a judge, and heading on road that he wouldn't have any reason to take makes it appear that he had a plan. But just speculation at this point.

[gopokes88]

Just curious as to how you would know how shaky the grounds were, Did you have access to all the discovery in this case? Yeah I know how precedent works and I also know Kenneth Lay had a dream team at his disposal in Texas. How did that work out?

Being the first person in 100 years charged under a law is what I would call shaky grounds, especially when what they are accusing him of is more less standard operating procedure. You admitted it yourself there's a political witch hunt element to this they want to throw a high profile businessman in jail.

They'd be pretty motivated to make sure they win that case.

[gopokes88]

The police reported no skid marks, hence no hitting the brakes.

You know you don't have make skid marks when you brake right?

If he was lightly breaking on and off up to the crash, that can suggest he was just driving like a mad man and crashed.
If he hadn't braked in a mile and his speed was ramped up shortly before the crash it points toward intentional.

I think you're just mad Aubrey won't see a prison cell.

[baralheia]

This seems to have been missed but my understanding is that Aubrey owns a second home out at Lake Arcadia and he was likely coming from there and heading towards work.

The only problem with that theory is he was heading northbound on Midwest Blvd, toward Lake Arcadia, when the wreck occurred. I verified this by comparing published pictures of the scene with Google Maps Street View imagery.

I feel more and more that this was no accident; the abutment for the I-44 overpass is a solid, vertical wall of concrete close to the road surface - not sloped like most abutments in this state. Structurally, it's much stronger and more likely to withstand an impact of that magnitude than, say, a centerline pillar, without giving way and endangering drivers crossing the bridge; additionally, there are no guard rails protecting that concrete wall. He struck the wall on the driver's side of center, at an extremely high rate of speed, driving a large CNG-powered vehicle that would have a much higher likelihood of catching fire after a serious accident versus a gasoline-powered vehicle - all while not restrained in the vehicle by a seat belt. The road the wreck happened on, Midwest Blvd, has a fairly low average daily traffic count (1200 vpd in 2014) in that area, so there would be much less of a chance of injuring others. That, combined with the circumstantial evidence (indictment, likelihood of incarceration, loss of control of AEP, etc), tells me that suicide is a likely reason for this accident.

Unfortunately, we may never know for sure if the wreck was intentional or merely an accident. Regardless of his possible guilt, his death is a huge loss for our city. My heart goes out to his immediate and extended family right now.

[okc_bel_air]

In reference to the direction of going north toward Arcadia. Here is a thought...

He was going south to work or somewhere else in OKC. Passes under the bridge and decides to make a u-turn and go back north.

[baralheia]

Here is the bridge heading north...

Someone said that if it was intentional he wouldn't have veered left of center and merely hit the bridge on the right side of the road.

But as you can see here, there was no way to hit the right side squarely:

Not only that, but hitting the right abutment would impact the passenger side of his vehicle, making survival for the driver much more likely. Crossing left of center and hitting the left abutment would specifically impact the driver's side, making survival for the driver much less likely.