In September 2016, Chesapeake Energy filed disclosure forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission which says the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ), a number of states, and even the U.S. Postal Service have served the company with subpoenas for information (see Everybody Just Subpoenaed Chesapeake Energy for Everything). The filing indicated that Chesapeake had received DOJ, U.S. Postal Service and state subpoenas “seeking information on our royalty payment practices. In addition, we have received a DOJ subpoena seeking information on our accounting methodology for the acquisition and classification of oil and gas properties and related matters.” An enterprising investigative reporter with Reuters noticed Chesapeake recently filed another disclosure form with the SEC–to say that the DOJ has now ended what was a three-year probe into the company’s royalty payment and land purchase practices–ended without taking any action…
