5000 list of the country's fastest-growing companies, has died.

Chesapeake has said it's cooperating with federal investigators.

The case is Thieme v. Chesapeake Energy Corp., et al. and was filed in federal court in the Western District of Oklahoma. McClendon died when his sport-utility vehicle collided with a concrete embankment and burst into flames along an Oklahoma City expressway.

"The charge that has been filed against me today is wrong and unprecedented", he said in a statement late on Tuesday night. The wording of the indictment made clear that Chesapeake was one of the companies.

In a statement, the DOJ said McClendon had "orchestrated" a bid rigging scheme between "two large oil and gas companies" that ran from December 2007 to March 2012. The victor would then give the apparent loser an interest in the lease. He quickly denied the charges.

McClendon had no management role in companies that First Reserve, another private-equity backer, had invested in, according to another person familiar with the matter. Joint bidding is the practice of companies, often smaller ones, working together on a bid.

The U.S. Justice Department's press office has not yet returned a call seeking comment.

An attorney who is suing the companies described the oil patch differently.

Ward, named in the class-action suit filed by Burns Charest, later went on to become chairman and CEO at SandRidge. He believes SandRidge and Ward are the other company and the co-conspirator mentioned but not identified in the McClendon indictment.

Neither Ward nor Sandridge officials immediately returned messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Balderrama said McClendon was speeding and not wearing a seat belt in his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, but it's too early to tell if the collision was intentional. The business, which he served as chairman and CEO, created at least a half-dozen limited liability corporations to crack oil and natural gas from shale rocks, the production method known as "fracking". Encana paid a $5 million fine.

Houston lawyer Philip Hilder, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects more prosecutions.

McClendon was terminated from Chesapeake in 2013, but he continued to receive an annual salary of $975,000 per year - or almost $60,000 a month.

The 56-year-old founder and former CEO of Chesapeake Energy was alone in his SUV and driving at a "high rate of speed" at about 9 a.m. Wednesday when it crashed head-on into the wall, police said.