Aubrey McClendon
Chesapeake Energy chairman and CEO Aubrey McClendon was the top new search term on Muckety last week. McClendon had a bad week when he faced margin calls and was forced to sell “substantially all” of the 33 million shares of stock he owned in Chesapeake, the company he co-founded.
In a report on Muckety, Gary Jacobson writes that just a few months ago, McClendon’s roughly 33 million shares were worth, on paper, more than $2 billion.
“These involuntary and unexpected sales were precipitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the worldwide financial crisis,” McClendon said in a statement.
Tom Petters
Minneapolis businessman and philanthropist Tom Petters returned to the Muckety top search list as the story of the ponzi scheme he is alleged to have been involved with continues to develop. A. James Memmott, who has been following the story for Muckety, reports that Petters “gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to political candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike. And he has given millions to institutions of higher education.”
Petters has maintained his innocence. A federal magistrate judge has denied his request for bail, on the grounds that Petters is a flight risk.
Gordon Liddy
Back in May, Memmott had a post on Gordon Liddy with the headline “G. Gordon Liddy connection could plague John McCain.”
McCain’s relationship with Liddy generated interest among internet users after McCain’s appearance on the Dave Letterman Show on Thursday night.
Liddy, a conservative radio talk-show host and convicted mastermind of the Watergate break-in, has contributed several thousand dollars to McCain’s campaigns.
Letterman brought up Liddy after suggesting that Barack Obama’s relationship with William Ayers was not so different from McCain’s relationship with Liddy.
You can watch the video here:
Alpha Magazine
Alpha Magazine, which bills itself as “the leading hedge fund publication in the marketplace today,” landed on the top search list this week as hedge funds feel the impact of the global financial crisis.
Muckety’s map of some of the top 50 hedge fund earners in 2007 was a destination for many users.
In an April post on Muckety, Memmott wrote about presidential candidates following the money to hedge fund billionaires.
Memmott suggests that “their donations may give some indication of the candidates they think will win or will be kindest to the now lightly regulated hedge fund market.”
Molly McCann
Molly McCann, the sister of GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, showed up on the search radar last week after an investigation by the Alaska Legislature concluded that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Palin is accused of exerting pressure on subordinates to have Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten fired. Wooten, McCann’s ex-husband, is Palin’s former brother-in-law (see Muckety map).
The 263-page report said that “impermissible and repeated contacts create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior’s displeasure and the possible consequences of that displeasure.”
Top five stories for the week
Shades of 1929 for Chesapeake’s Aubrey McClendon
Risk taking caught up with Aubrey McClendon, the outspoken energy company CEO who helped fund the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry four years ago and has been busy touting the benefits of compressed natural gas in TV ads this election cycle.
The head of Chesapeake Energy said Friday that margin calls forced him to sell “substantially all” of the company stock he held. Just a few months ago, his roughly 33 million shares were worth, on paper, more than $2 billion.
Accused businessman Tom Petters gave piles of cash to nonprofits, politicians
Thomas J. Petters was a generous man, it would seem.
He gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to political candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike. And he has given millions to institutions of higher education.
Lessons from Bob Simpson’s $100 million cashout at XTO
CEO Bob Simpson earned about $100 million from the sale of nearly 2.8 million shares of XTO early last week, as he raced to beat the meltdown of the market and his stock.
G. Gordon Liddy connection could plague John McCain
Writing in the Chicago Tribune recently, columnist Steve Chapman suggested that Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, could have a friend problem.
In McCain’s case, the friend is G. Gordon Liddy, the conservative radio talk-show host and convicted mastermind of the Watergate break-in.
Weathermen prosecutor dismisses efforts to tie Obama to Ayers
The former lead prosecutor of the Weather Underground has expressed indignation over efforts to link Barack Obama to onetime radical William C. Ayers by the campaign of John McCain.
“I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child,” William C. Ibershof wrote in a letter to the New York Times.
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