May 31, 2012
--- A Los Angeles law firm has begun an investigation into the
Chesapeake Energy Corporation Savings and Incentive Stock Bonus Plan. ---
Liner
Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor LLP is looking into potential violations of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA) relating to the plan’s investments.
The law firm is concerned the plan’s
fiduciaries may have breached their fiduciary duties to plan participants by
offering Chesapeake stock or other inappropriate funds as plan investment
options. A breach also may have occurred if the fiduciaries withheld or
concealed information from plan participants about the company’s business and
financial results, encouraging them and their beneficiaries to continue to make
substantial investments in company stock through the plan.
Shares in the Oklahoma City company have
dropped 48% in the past year. The effect of falling gas prices has been
compounded by Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon’s use of personal stakes
in the company’s wells to obtain loans.
Rebecca Moore