Thunder Co-Owner Dies in Car Crash 1 Day After Conspiracy Indictment

Oklahoma City Thunder co-owner Aubrey McClendon died in a single-vehicle car accident Wednesday, just one day after he was indicted on a federal conspiracy charge.

The billionaire Thunder minority owner and former chief executive of Chesapeake Energy was charged with conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases. He was facing 10 years in prison.

McClendon, 56, crashed into an embankment while traveling at a “high rate of speed” in Oklahoma City just after 9 a.m. local time, said Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City Police Department. Flames engulfed McClendon’s vehicle “immediately,” Balderrama said. He added that police determined McClendon was not wearing a seatbelt after earlier being unable to tell.

“He pretty much drove straight into the wall,” Balderrama said.

McClendon was expected to turn himself in at 11 a.m. The crash is believed to have been suicide. It also comes weeks after Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams lost his wife in a car accident.

source