In the waning weeks of the Bush Administration, Tim DeChristopher disrupted a lease of public lands for oil and gas exploration by bidding up prices against those who intended to drill on the lands if oil or gas was found. (Democracy Now! reported on December 22, and I diaried about it here the following Sunday.)
The leases were subsequently invalidated, because the hurried process of bringing them to bid violated federal regulations. Although he had no money to pay for the leases when he bid on them, DeChristopher subsequently did get the money to cover them, as the result of becoming an instant folk hero. He was prepared to pay for the leases, but the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) couldn't accept the money, since the leases had been invalidated.
Now, however, DeChristopher is being charged with two felonies, even though the only reason he didn't make good on the payments is because the sales were withdrawn. Apparently, the act of exposing the rigged nature of the bidding was crime enough--"disrupting" the tacit collusion whereby bidding stopped well short of what the bidders were actually willing to pay.
And this is the Obama Department of Justice we're talking about now.
