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US: Chesapeake hit with RICO suit over $5 billion antitrust scheme

By  |  February 19, 2015

A group of more than 90 landowners and other owners of royalty interests in natural gas hit Chesapeake Energy with a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act suit in Pennsylvania federal court on Tuesday, after it allegedly reaped $5 billion by limiting trade in the market for gas-gathering services.

The suit also accuses Chesapeake and Williams Partners, previously known as Access Midstream Partners, of violating RICO with a scheme and transactions designed to bail Chesapeake out of its financial problems.

The lawsuit also includes claims for breach of contract, and for an accounting and declaratory relief, against Chesapeake Appalachia, Anadarko E&P Company LP, Statoil USA Onshore Properties, Inc., and Mitsui E&P USA LLC, based on their alleged underpayment of royalties as a result of the improper deduction of gathering and other post-production costs.

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