Energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon, who amassed a $1 billion fortune by being among the first to recognize the technology that would lead to the shale gas revolution, died Wednesday in a fiery one-car crash in his hometown of Oklahoma City.

McClendon, 56, was indicted by a federal court grand jury less than 24 hours earlier for conspiring to rig oil and gas leases.

Police said the married father of three grown kids was driving his 2013 Chevy Tahoe at a “high rate of speed” at about 9 a.m., when it crossed a grassy median and crashed head-on into a wall.

The car was immediately engulfed in flames, according to Oklahoma City Police Captain Paco Balderrama.

It was not immediately known if he died in the crash or if he suffered a medical emergency beforehand that caused the crash.

The vehicle was so badly burned that it could not be determined whether McClendon was wearing a seat belt, police said.

McClendon, the founder and former chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, engineered a scheme to keep companies from bidding against one another for oil and gas leases in northwest Oklahoma, the grand jury charged.

The businessman, who was a minority owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, faced up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.

McClendon strongly denied the charges.

“I am proud of my track record in this industry, and I will fight to prove my innocence and to clear my name,” McClendon, who founded American Energy Partners after leaving Chesapeake, said Tuesday after the indictment.

The executive, one of the best-known wildcatters in the US, pioneered the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to unlock hidden oil and gas reserves. He co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, building it into the largest fracking outfit in the US.

He was also known for making wild bets that sometimes lost, leading Forbes to crown him America’s Most Reckless Billionaire.

Chesapeake’s shareholders, including billionaire investor Carl Icahn, forced him from the company in 2013, blasting him for aggressive spending and commingling his personal finances with those of the company.

On Wednesday, the Justice Department issued a statement saying prosecutors were “saddened” by his death.

Condolences came pouring in soon after news of his death broke.

“Aubrey McClendon was one of the brightest men I’ve ever dealt with. I personally always found him to be a gentleman in our interactions,” Icahn said on Twitter.

“He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur,” billionaire energy investor T. Boone Pickens said in a statement. “No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting.”