CHICAGO _ The wine collection of the late Oklahoma oil-and-gas magnate Aubrey McClendon hauled in about $8.4 million at a Chicago auction over the weekend, according to the auction firm.
McClendon, 56, CEO of American Energy Partners and part owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball team, died in a single-car crash March 2, a day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury over alleged bid-rigging. His collection of 4,600-plus bottles was auctioned Saturday at Tru restaurant in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood, far surpassing the pre-auction estimated range of $5.1 million to $7.6 million.
"We are honored to have sold Aubrey's collection, and I think he would have been proud to know that we had more than 10 times the usual number of Oklahoma bidders on this record-breaking day," said Ben Nelson, president of Hart Davis Hart, the Chicago-based wine vendor that conducted the auction, in an email.
The nearly 1,000 bidders hailed from four continents, 17 countries and 42 states, Nelson said. McClendon's favorite wine, 1989 Chateau Haut-Brion, was particularly popular and broke several world records for sales, Nelson said. One five-liter sold for $33,460.
The priciest lot of the day _ a case of three double magnums of 1989 Chateau Petrus _ sold for $65,725.
McClendon, a renowned wine enthusiast, was known for his affinity for Bordeaux and large-format bottles. He would often open and share the large bottles with friends and business associates.
On March 1, the Department of Justice said in a statement that McClendon was suspected of orchestrating a scheme between two large energy companies, which were not named in the indictment, from December 2007 to March 2012. In a statement released the same day, McClendon denied the charges.
In early June, following an autopsy, the Oklahoma medical examiner's office ruled McClendon's fatal crash to be an accident.
