DD Support Board and Research Team

[1manband]

The landowners benefitted

How? They were ripped off by the two co-conspirators and did not receive fair-market value for their property leases and royalty rates from the oil and gas produced. Under no circumstances could someone argue they were not harmed. That is like saying that you have a house you bought for $100K which is now worth $500K. But it is OK for the buyers interested in the property to conspire together to screw you and to only pay you $300K because, hey, you still make money, right?

I already explained why in the O&G sector it is common for only two or three companies to be bidders for a specific tract of land. That still does not give them the right to illegally conspire to steal from the landholders.

Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon lost their fortunes during the time in question.

So what? That means we should give them a pass from their crimes? So I can go rob a bank and then immediately take the money to a casino (or buy a penny stock) and if I lose it all, my crime of robbing the bank should be forgiven and I should not be charged for the initial crime? What about the bank (or in this case, the landholders) who are the victims of this crime? Are they supposed to be OK with it because the people that robbed them took a gamble and subsequently lost the proceeds from their crimes? And what kind of message does that send - that crime is OK as long as it doesn't pay (even though it clearly DID pay - both Ward and McClendon are still VERY wealthy men. They did diversify their assets and took a lot of money off the table and out of their oil and gas investments. McClendon's interest in the Oklahoma City Thunder alone is worth around $200 million).

Chesapeake and McClendon committed a very obvious crime. I just don't see how anyone can defend what they did and give them a pass.