Michigan’s attorney general filed criminal charges against Chesapeake Energy Corp. , alleging that the natural-gas producer misled landowners to obtain leases in the state. Prosecutors contend that Chesapeake in 2010 assured Michigan landowners that holding mortgages weren’t obstacles to signing leases allowing the company to drill for gas, but later cited those mortgages as a reason for canceling the deals. “Chesapeake therefore obtained uncompensated land options from these landowners by false pretenses, and prevented competitors from using the land,” the attorney general’s office said Thursday. The complaint says that Chesapeake signed leases with as many as 800 landowners, but honored fewer than 30 leases. “We believe this action has no merit and we will vigorously contest these baseless allegations,” said Gordon Pennoyer, a spokesman for the company, which is based in Oklahoma City. The charges include one felony count of conducting a criminal enterprise and eight felony counts of […]