Pennsylvania landowners are not the only landowners who have had problems arising out of Chesapeake's tactics. Reuters reports that, earlier this month, a Michigan state court judge ruled that Chesapeake Energy will have to face trial on criminal charges brought against it by the Attorney General of Michigan, including one charge of racketeering and 20 counts of using false pretenses to allegedly defraud private landowners in the state during an oil and gas leasing boom there in 2010. The charges relate to company's land-leasing tactics during a speculative leasing boom in the northern part of Michigan during 2010. The Attorney General alleges that Chesapeake directed its leasing agents to lock up land positions in the state by offering signing bonuses to private landowners, through a shell company, and then used shell company to cancel land deals with more than 800 private landowners once competing gas companies pulled out of the area. No trial date has been set. See http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-chesapeake-enrgy-michigan-trial-idUSKBN0H41VQ20140909
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