American Energy Partners responded that he had the right to all information in his possession under his various separation agreements with Chesapeake. In April 2015, American Energy – Utica, LLC reached a settlement with Chesapeake, giving them of land and $25 million. As of April 2015, McClendon had been in arbitration with Chesapeake regarding the lawsuit against him. American Energy Partners, LP On April 2, 2013, McClendon founded American Energy Partners, LP (AELP), a private oil and natural gas company based in Oklahoma City. During 2013 and 2014, McClendon hired more than 600 employees and raised equity and debt commitments of approximately $15 billion. AELP is an oil and natural gas company comprising several affiliated companies, including American Energy Utica LLC and American Energy Marcellus LLC, American Energy – Permian Basin, LLC, American Energy – Woodford, LLC, American Energy – NonOp, LLC, American Energy – Minerals, LLC, and American Energy – Midstream, LLC. Natural gas advocacy McClendon was a founding member of America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), a trade association and lobbying group for independent natural gas producers, based in Washington, D.C. He was an advocate for the greater use of natural gas in the United States and he funded a campaign in 2007 to draw clean-energy activists' attention to a Texas utility's plan to build 11 new coal plants. He also made a donation to the Sierra Club to fund its "Beyond Coal" campaign, which had blocked more than 150 new coal plants in the United States, as of October 2013. McClendon was a public proponent of natural gas, fracking and shale drilling throughout his career. In an appearance on 60 Minutes in 2010, McClendon argued a case for natural gas as a clean fuel and a significant job-creating industry. He defended the natural gas and oil industry's use of hydraulic fracturing techniques for well completion. Later that year, he was quoted saying, "We have found something that can liberate us from the influence of OPEC, that can put several million Americans back to work, liberate us from four-dollar gasoline." Federal indictment for violating antitrust laws On March 1, 2016, a federal grand jury indicted McClendon for violating antitrust laws, with conspiring to suppress prices paid for oil and natural gas leases by allegedly rigging the bidding process. The indictment says he orchestrated a conspiracy in which two oil and gas companies colluded not to bid against each other