Oil exec Aubrey McClendon dies in car crash a day after indictment

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS HUGE. This guy is so well known in the petroleum & natural gas industry; he has ties all over the world, especially here in Oklahoma. The article goes on to talk about he wealth and history - It will be an interesting story to follow- It also brings up a pretty good question of how many other petroleum companies might come under the magnifying glass, and who will follow suite!

McClendon was indicted Tuesday on a federal charge of conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma.

The Department of Justice said in a statement that McClendon orchestrated a scheme between two large energy companies, which are not named in the indictment, from December 2007 to March 2012. The companies would decide ahead of time who would win bids, with the winner then allocating an interest in the leases to the other company, according to the statement.

McClendon denied violating antitrust laws on Tuesday.

Last Updated Mar 2, 2016 4:12 PM EST

A day after his indictment on bid-rigging charges, Aubrey McClendon, the former chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp., died Wednesday morning in a car crash in Oklahoma.

An Oklahoma City police spokesman said the 56-year-old, also a part-owner of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, was speeding and "drove straight into the wall" when he was killed in a single-car crash.

Capt. Paco Balderrama said McClendon crossed the center line, drove into a grassy area and crashed into a wall at about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Balderrama said there was "plenty of opportunity" for McClendon to correct himself and get back on the road, but that didn't happen.

Police are still investigating the single-vehicle crash, and said it was too early to say whether it was intentional.

L I N K

We have 3 4 options...

Coincidence.
Yeah right.

Faked his death.
Hmm.

He was planning on flapping his gums about the wrong people.
My bet.


Edit: 4... suicide... If I'd have read a little further.

a reply to: ReadLeader

Query, do they know what make, model and year of vehicle he was in?

I only ask, because many vehicles, it turns out, can be hacked right out from under the driver under certain circumstances.

a reply to: TrueBrit

I JUST had this conversation with an associate. I am sure that a billionaire drove a brand new luxury suv, and I too think it could have been hacked. After all, he had/has enough $$$$ to buy his way out; I mean, look at O.J. and this is just a white collar crime.


thanks for posting TB

2013 Chevy Tahoe, seems a little odd for a billionaire to be driving a 3 year old vehicle.

link

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

He was planning on flapping his gums about the wrong people.
My bet.

I think you might have nailed it right here, Charlie.

Dead men don't talk. Or do they? Oops. That's another thread.

Well if any suggestion is made to the manufacturer that a possible steering fault or vehicle issue could have led to this then I would say they have a right to do a inspection. Now if that was declined as I believe was the case with Michael Hastings then I would be asking serious questions.

I would like to also know what the manufacturer says about combustion in a accident and what is possible with the electronics in the car?..



EDIT Chevy Tahoe 2013 crash data and safety rating information

www.safercar.gov...
RA

This thread has coincidentally dovetailed with research we've been exploring connected to the Scalia death and Argentine involvement:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: ReadLeader

The car he was supposedly in was a 2013 chevy tahoe. I am not buying it. In fact this story was one of the reasons I joined today. I wanted to share it here, but I have to have 20 posts. This reads right out of a CSI episode where a guy fakes his death by putting a corpse in a vehicle and remote driving it into a concrete barrier rigged to explode on impact and burning the body beyond recognition along with any computer information attributed to the crash itself.

This guy was/is a billionaire with the means to pull this off. I am just curious to know what was he doing alone? Wouldn't he have a security detail or at least a driver/bodyguard? I, also, am sure he would have th means to pay off any law enforcement officials necessary to facilitate a quick cover up.

a reply to: forthelove

Irregardless of how big an explosion and fire, there would be recoverable DNA to test. The only way that conspiracy angle would work, is if the DNA was not tested.

a reply to: charlyv

It is not the testing of dna, he would want them to confirm it, it is the fact this happened so quickly after his indictment. Hell this could even be a witness protection situation where they faked his death. The whole thing smells one way or the other like burning flesh. They can test dna all they want and find his, but did they recover a viable body that they could actually verify the identity? Here is a funny fact for you, when I saw the headline before I even read the story, I guessed out loud to my wife that he died in a car crash and there was probably a fire involved.

a reply to: forthelove

Without doing one iota of research I'll just speculate there have been an extremely low number of fatal single vehicle with single occupant immolations in the 2013 Tahoe outside of a Tom Clancy novel.

SUPER likely a bump-off.

I also like the witness-protection angle mentioned above for this.

No way this was a happenstance accident imo.

a reply to: forthelove

I did not say that everything would be on the up and up in this, if indeed there were dirty tricks involved. It is just that if there was DNA tested, and the results were falsified, it opens up a can of worms that will most likely return to cause a lot more damage in the future. I know it looks suspicious, but it could be suicide, or perhaps the coincidence of just falling asleep at the wheel. Not one for coincidence, I as well automatically put on the doubt hat, but it cannot be ruled out.

a reply to: charlyv

Suicide over an indictment seems rather idiotic. Rich people do not kill themselves, they get expensive lawyers and pay fines. Now if he was convicted and had to face serious jail time, maybe, but this was just a bit contrived and begs for conspiracy minded debate. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the investigation plays out. No way this is over.

Reminds me of the Michael Hastings accident. There is a picture of the crash on the lost ogle blog.

a reply to: TrueBrit

You still have to attache a piece of hardware under the bonnet to be able to hack the vehicle. I've heard claims by hackers that it can also be done through the hardware installed by your tracking company, but that is very difficult since you have to route your traffic via the tracking company and there's a good chance you'll leave tracks to be discovered.

Who would want to cover up inconvenient blabbing? I don't have the answer to that, but following the money might help?


According to Open Secrets blog, he was worth 1.2 Billion. He contributed heavily to political campaigns, and his company's lobbyists worked hard for the GOP.

Link

I'm not claiming that this was in anyway related to a political figure. I have no knowledge of that, merely throwing this out into the mix of possibilities. So, no smearing here, just curiosity.

A Rolling Stone article relates him to fracking...Could his fracking natural gas empire have anything to do with this?
Link

Also, suicide or hit? Could he simply not allow himself to lose this big, and took his own life? (I'm thinking suicide is less likely, personally.)

Edit to add - these seem to be the possibilities being discussed.
1. accident involving immolation
2. staged by billionaire to save himself
3. witness protection scheme to make him look dead
4. hit involving potentially a car-bomb and/or high tech manipulation of vehicle.
5. suicide

It is certainly strange. Why would anyone commit suicide by burning themselves in a car? So much could go wrong and you'd be horribly burned/disfigured, possibly losing limbs, etc. Dumb way for a rich guy to go...

- AB

Came form that other thread that got routed here.

I was just going to say, did he drive into an abutment?

Suicide, obviously.

originally posted by: forthelove
a reply to: charlyv

Suicide over an indictment seems rather idiotic. Rich people do not kill themselves, they get expensive lawyers and pay fines. Now if he was convicted and had to face serious jail time, maybe, but this was just a bit contrived and begs for conspiracy minded debate. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the investigation plays out. No way this is over.

I agree with that. It is certainly part of the conundrum. It is hard to put one self in the same shoes, as we have no idea really what else was going on in his life besides what we are being told. This is the root of all would-be conspiracies, as most of us absolutely hate the concept of coincidence, especially when they produce such drastic forks in the outcome.

I would rate thus: on a scale from Unlikely to Certain:

Murder: Likely.
Suicide: Less Likely.
Accident: Less Likely.
Collusion: Possible

It is totally my conjecture, based upon situations like this, where there is motive in every corner. The odds of that itself, have to be taken into consideration.

BTW: For a relatively newcomer to ATS, you have a balanced philosophy on this .. so it is a welcome attribute. Good Show.

Interesting.

Trump has virtually nothing to do with big oil...

BUT, Hillary sure does!

Go figure...another Clinton body bag.