McClendon is credited and sometimes cursed for championing the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The technology led to a boom in U.S. oil and natural gas production from porous rock formations, known as shale, that had been hard to tap. And fracking made him a billionaire. By 2005, Chesapeake was the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer, after Exxon Mobil.
In 2012, Reuters reported in a series of articles that McClendon enjoyed controversial perks at shareholder expense, operated a secretive, $200 million hedge fund from inside Chesapeake's offices, and received as much as $1.4 billion in loans against his well interests. In response to the news, his board stripped him of his chairmanship, and he resigned in 2013 to start AEP.
Some energy executives who did business with McClendon say they are puzzled by the charge that he conspired to suppress land prices. Brandt Temple, CEO of Sunrise Exploration in New Orleans, is one of them. Temple was negotiating a deal with McClendon that was supposed to close the day of the deadly crash.
"What he was indicted for, which is keeping prices down, that's typically never what he did," Temple said. "With my experience with Aubrey, he was doing it the other way," paying as much as $1,000 per acre for land others valued at $300.
Temple's view was echoed by others in the industry. But emails published by Reuters in 2012 showed that McClendon had indeed tried to suppress land prices elsewhere. In one, McClendon wrote to a rival energy executive that it was time "to smoke a peace pipe" together "if we are bidding each other up." In another, he wrote: "Should we throw in 50/50 together here rather than trying to bash each other's brains out on lease buying?"
The Michigan Attorney General investigated, and last year Chesapeake settled criminal antitrust, fraud and racketeering charges, paying $25 million to a victims fund. Chesapeake pleaded no contest to one count each of attempted antitrust violation and false pretenses, both misdemeanors.
Flags At Half-Staff
McClendon had a deep impact on Oklahoma City in the years he ran Chesapeake. He created tens of thousands of jobs and showered tens of millions of Chesapeake's and his own dollars on the community. He helped bring the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder and an Olympic-class rowing venue to town. He secured the city's first Whole Foods Market, brought upscale shopping and dining to the Chesapeake neighborhood and contributed to many charities, from local elementary schools to Boy & Girls Clubs.
"When Aubrey left Chesapeake, there was an audible gasp from the nonprofit community in this city," former governor Frank Keating, a past Chesapeake board member, said at the funeral
In the March 2 edition of the hometown paper, The Oklahoman, McClendon's indictment was played bigger than surprising results in the previous day's Super Tuesday U.S. presidential nominating contest, featuring upset wins by Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders.