You may or may not know about Aubrey McClendon… Duke graduate, co-owner of the Seattle SuperSonics Oklahoma City Thunder, defender of the Duke Lacrosse team (he took out full-page ads in support of the team in 2006), contributor to the Swift Boat ads in 2004, co-founder of natural gas powerhouse Chesapeake Energy (CHK), and multi-billionaire. Forbes put his net worth at $3.1 billion, putting him as number 134 on the Forbes 400.

So, it should be obvious that his net worth has gone down, especially since approximately $2.65 billion of his net worth was in the form of CHK stock… and CHK has dropped from a high of $73 in July to yesterday’s close at $16.50 for a 77% decline.

Unfortunately for Mr. McClendon, Chesapeake has announced that he was forced to sell “substantially all” of his shares in the company to meet margin calls. He’s apparently been buying additional shares of CHK on margin over the years… a strategy that works wonders when things are going up, but wreaks havoc when a bear market occurs.

I’m pretty sure the Forbes 400 will look markedly different next year.