Wednesday, April 18, 2012

UPDATED--Chesapeake's CEO Took $1.1 Billion in Unreported Loans (CHK)

Update: Honey, I Pledged the Kids as Collateral: "Visualizing Chesapeake's Aubrey McClendon "Rehypothecation" Scheme... And The China Trail" (CHK)
Original post:
That is money the cash-strapped company could have used. Instead CHK is doing joint ventures at fire sale prices. Not to mention the risk to Chesapeake should McClendon default.
To thine own self be true.
And get a good lawyer, this is either non or mis if not mal-feasance.
The stock is down 7.53% at $17.65.
Real investigative journalism from Reuters:

Special Report: Chesapeake CEO took $1.1 billion in shrouded personal loans
Aubrey K. McClendon is one of the most successful energy entrepreneurs of recent decades. But he hasn't always proved popular with shareholders of the company he co-founded, Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States.

McClendon, 52, helped cause Chesapeake shares to plummet amid the financial crisis when he sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock to raise cash for himself. Later, to settle a lawsuit by shareholders, he agreed to buy back a $12 million map collection that he'd sold to Chesapeake.

His approach to running his company also is renowned: Among other employee perks, on-site Botox treatments are available at its headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Now, a series of previously undisclosed loans to McClendon could once again put Chesapeake's CEO and shareholders at odds.

McClendon has borrowed as much as $1.1 billion in the last three years by pledging his stake in the company's oil and natural gas wells as collateral, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

The loans were made through three companies controlled by McClendon that list Chesapeake's headquarters as their address. The money is being used to help finance what could be a lucrative perk of his job - the opportunity to buy into the very same well stakes that he is using as collateral for the borrowings.

The size and nature of the loans raise concerns about whether McClendon's personal financial deals could compromise his fiduciary duty to Chesapeake investors, according to more than a dozen academics, analysts and attorneys who reviewed the loan agreements for Reuters....MORE