DETROIT – Chesapeake Energy Corporation has been ordered to stand trial on racketeering and false pretenses charges, Attorney General Bill Schuette said on Tuesday.
Cheboygan County District Judge Maria Barton cleared the way for the Oklahoma-based firm to face trial for allegedly defrauding private landowners across the state by basically tricking them to commit to lease their land to the firm and then cancelling the leases when all other competitors had been locked out of bidding for oil and natural gas rights.
The company already faces a trial on December 2 in Cheboygan County on anti-trust charges. The company was alleged in 2010 to have conspired with Encana Oil and Gas USA to rig bidding on oil and gas leases in Northeast Michigan. Encana was also charged by Schuette but agreed to pay a $5 million fine and plead no contest to the charge.
In the current case, Schuette charged Chesapeake essentially held lease options without compensating owners and then prevented other competitors from leasing the land.
The company is charged with one count of racketeering and 20 counts of false pretenses. Each count is a felony charge.
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