M&T Unit, Other Lenders Seek $500M from Oil CEO's Estate

Several lenders are attempting to recover a combined total of nearly $500 million from the estate of the deceased chief executive of an Oklahoma energy company.

The financial institution with the largest claim is Wilmington Trust, a Delaware unit of the $125 billion-asset M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y.

The case involves the estate of Aubrey McClendon, the founder and former chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City. McClendon died on March 2 when the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV he was driving hit a concrete viaduct at high speed, according to media reports. One day before the accident, a federal grand jury had indicted McClendon for violating antitrust laws for allegedly rigging oil and gas leases.

Wilmington Trust claims McClendon's estate owes it about $464 million from a November 2014 credit and guaranty agreement, according to court records. The outstanding debt is accruing unpaid interest at a 10.5% yearly rate, Wilmington Trust said in a court document. A hearing on Wilmington Trust's claim has been scheduled for Monday in an Oklahoma City state court.

Wilmington Trust's claim was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Other lenders have also filed claims in the case. A subsidiary of the $43 billion-asset CIT Group in Livingston, N.J., said that the McClendon estate owes it about $22.6 million from a December 2014 aircraft loan. The $357 million-asset Valliance Bank in Oklahoma City has filed a claim against the estate for about $6 million for an unspecified asset.

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